Playing Our Roles
by The Grim Blade
Summary: Something unexpected happened to me. I'm stuck inside the body of the (future) greatest thief in Vale, with the power of The Gamer given to me for some unknown reason. All in all, it could be worse. For now I have given myself a mission, actually being the greatest thief in Vale! I also need to screw over Cinder, save Pyrrha and Penny, and not end up dead in the process.
1. Chapter 1

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 1**

I groaned as I cracked open my eyes to find myself staring up at an unfamiliar and dusty ceiling. I was surprised, but I felt way calmer than I honestly should have been. Blinking, I looked around my new location and came to the rather easy conclusion that it was the upper office of some old decrepit warehouse. If the window overlooking the large, empty main storage area was any indication.

Half my vision was also colored orange from the hair covering my right eye, a fact that had me a little suspicious as I did not have bright orange hair. I had to push that thought to the side, because what really caught my attention was the blue, mildly transparent square floating in front of my face.

 **Welcome, Gamer!**

 **You have been randomly selected to experience a once in a lifetime… experience!**

 **(New Quest!)**

 **Would you like a tutorial to get you started?**

 **Rewards: 1000 XP, 500 Lien, 10 free stat points, and potentially a deeper understanding of your new role in life!**

 **[Yes/No]**

I'll admit that I have never been expressively fond of extreme change. I usually prefer to keep things simple and plain, so that I can mindlessly go through most of my day without thinking too hard. Only breaking out of that mindless zoning out when it was time to have fun.

That being said, I can't help but find this new, and extremely abrupt, change of pace in my life to be… weird as hell for sure, but strangely nice as well. I always fantasized about having superhuman powers, add to the fact that this was a power from one of my favorite Korean comics was just a bonus.

Standing up from the large pushed together boxes I was apparently using as a bed, I tentatively pressed the yes button, almost expecting my finger to pass through the window and confirm if I was actually insane. Turns out I was not, in fact, insane and the second I finished pressing the button the window flashed and new text appeared on it.

 **Excellent choice!**

 **Normally you would not get a tutorial and would have to figure things out on your own, but due to your new circumstances, this was made an exceptional case.**

 **Please, say or think "Status" to continue. This will set your skills as internal or vocal commands for the future.**

 **Changing between thinking and speaking commands can be modified later in the options menu.**

" _Status,"_ I thought to myself. A new window replaced the previous in a flash of blue, showing me my stats… and something I was not expecting but did explain why I have orange hair now.

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 10 (Next Level: 0/5500)**

 **Title: None**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 760**

 **MP: 708**

 **STR: 18.2 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%)]**

 **VIT: 26 [Base 20 + 6(30%)]**

 **DEX: 28.6 [Base 22 + 6.6(30%)]**

 **INT: 20.8 [Base 16 + 4.8(30%)]**

 **WIS: 13 [Base 10 + 3(30%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 0**

 **Lien: 250**

 **Status Effects: None**

Apparently… I became Roman Torchwick? I mean that _does_ explain the orange hair. I admit, this has really taken me off guard and I don't know how I really feel about losing my body and replacing it with someone else's.

I sat back down on the boxes I was sleeping on in shock and placed a hand on my new chest, absently staring at it as I slowly started to freak out. A sort of calm quickly washed over my mind before that could take root, I figured that was the Gamer's Mind passive skill going to work on keeping me sane.

 **[For getting ahead of the tutorial and recalling key information from a previous life your INT has risen by 1!]**

I dismissed that notification with a roll of my eyes. But seriously, for a level ten, Roman had more stat points than I would have expected. Even if they are allocated way too weirdly for my liking. I would have thought there would be a bit less in vitality and more in dexterity and intelligence.

 **As you can probably guess this is your status window.**

 **On it you will find a plethora of useful information, things such as your total health (HP), your total Aura (MP), various stats, any elemental affinities, status effects, and your total money. Tapping on any of the info on this screen can bring you further information on it.**

 **Try tapping on one of your stats now.**

I tapped on my intelligence stat for the hell of it.

 **[How smart you are. Higher levels of this stat will increase learning ability and speed, memorization, thinking up new ideas to solve a problem, etc. Each point in INT increases MP by 10 per stat point.]**

Huh, judging by my total MP right now a little bit of math tells me that each of my level-ups gives me fifty MP. I tapped on all of the other stats, best to figure out what each one does before I spend any points.

 **[By planning ahead to figure out what each stat does before making a decision has increased your WIS by 1!]**

I dismissed that with a flick of a finger.

 **[HP, or health, is how much damage after Aura you can take before dying.**

 **Current HP regen is 2% of max HP/minute]**

 **[MP, or as the locals call it, Aura, is the resource used in most spells and skills.**

 **Current MP regen is 1% of max MP/min]**

 **[Strength is how strong you are, duh! It affects** _ **physical**_ **carrying capacity and how hard you hit with melee weapons!]**

 **[Vitality is how tough you are. Increasing this stat allows you to actually take a punch to the face without crying like a baby. Each point in this stat increases your overall HP by 10.]**

And using math tells me that each of my levels also increases HP by fifty. Good to know.

 **[Dexterity is how agile you are. It increases hand-eye coordination, attack speed, movement, how easy it is to DODGE! attacks, damage and aim with a ranged weapon, and also aids in more… nefarious skills.]**

 **[Wisdom is the ability to take any decisions you have and choose the best one out of them. It also increases MP regeneration by an extra 1% every 10 levels.]**

I didn't feel the need to check on luck right now, I figured that was probably pretty straightforward. Once finished with looking over my status screen I continued with the tutorial.

 **Now that we have finished with the Status screen, let's move on.**

 **Try thinking "Inventory" now.**

" _Inventory,"_ I thought. Sure enough, the status screen was replaced by the inventory screen. So far all I saw in the inventory was a lighter, some cigars, and Roman's Scroll. I gave a look at what I was currently wearing, nothing seemed to match what Roman had on during the main timeline of RWBY. Right now he was just wearing some brown cargo pants with a green polo shirt and a zipped black hoodie. Not the most classy of things, which is something that must be rectified soon.

Obviously, I must be some time before the main story, perhaps Roman hadn't become the best thief in all of Vale yet and also hadn't adopted that classy look. Also because Roman was clearly weaker now than what he is in the show, I highly doubt a level ten would hold out for long in the kind of work he was doing. Once I finished with this tutorial I needed to figure out how much time until the fun stuff begins.

 **This is your inventory, you can put things into it and pull them out whenever you wish. You can also equip clothes and items in this screen without having to manually change them.**

 **Convenient, right?**

 **When you are finished here, please think "Skills".**

" _Skills,"_ I thought, the inventory screen being replaced with a mostly blank one. It only had three currently in it. The tutorial screen decided to voice itself on that issue.

 **Oops! Seems you are lacking some skills. How about we fix that?**

Sure enough, a couple of skills fazed into being in the menu. I tapped on one of the new ones.

 **[Pickpocketing Lv16 (Active) EXP 0.0%: This skill allows you to reach into another person's clothing and grab hold of their hidden assets… their money and other valuables of course!**

 **Base chance of successful pickpocketing: 65% (Can be increased or decreased by your dexterity relative to theirs. Yours minus theirs applied to the base, mostly applies to other hunters as civilians will probably not notice you.**

 **Cost: None**

 **Passively increases dexterity by 15%]**

I snorted in amusement at that skill description. I decided to check up on the two basic skills I knew from heart, just for kicks.

 **[Gamer's Mind (Passive) Lv: Max**  
 **Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind. Immunity to mental attacks.]**

 **[Gamer's Body (Passive) Lv: Max  
Grants the user a body that allows them to experience life as a video game.]**

I closed the skill's description, feeling oddly satisfied, and focused back on the tutorial.

 **There we go! Much less depressing now.**

 **You can gain new skills in a variety of ways: by repeating certain actions, experimenting with your Aura, and reading skill books.**

 **With that, you have finished the basic tutorial and all that's left is for you to make your own mark in this world. Choose whichever path you want, you have that freedom. Any further information can be found in the help section in the options menu.**

 **Happy gaming!**

I nodded as I closed the tutorial, I already knew what I had to do. Just as the tutorial finished disappearing, a new window appeared.

 **Tutorial quest finished!**

 **Rewards:**

 **-10 free stat points**

 **-500 Lien**

 **-1000 XP**

I decided to keep the stat points, for now, instead opting to look over my other skills. One was "Stealth", which obviously allowed me to sneak around undetected.

 **[Stealth Lv10 (Passive/Active) EXP 0.0%: The ability to move silently, like a, like a ninja! Or a thief.**

 **Passively decreases noise of movement by 5%**

 **Active - decreases noise of movement by a further 20%.**

 **Cost: 25 Mp/minute**

 **Movement speed reduced by 50% when active.**

 **Can only be leveled if there are others nearby to sneak past.]**

Another skill was called "Thief Mastery", which at level 14, increased the chance of stealing (pickpocketing included) undetected by an extra 18% and gave any stealth or thieving based skill a 30% extra experience gain.

The last skill was simply called "Aura".

 **[Aura Lv13 (Passive/Active) EXP 0.0%: The manifestation of your soul. When active it creates a sort of force field around your body, protecting it from harm.**

 **Passively increases all stats except LUK by 30%**

 **When active, increases all stats except LUK by 60% and allows MP to be used as a second health bar.**

 **Cost: MP regen disabled until deactivated. (Parameters to remove this cost not yet achieved)]**

But seriously, that's some impressive passive and active effects. And I bet removing that cost is something like bringing it up to max level, or at the very least up to a certain level in between. Well… I should probably start leveling it up in the meantime.

I experimentally activated my Aura, watching the skill screen closely. It did go up eventually, but it was .01%, so just leaving it on will take a while to level it up. Since Aura is combat related I'd bet leveling it up would go faster when used in actual combat, maybe even taking hits with it on. Should be easy to grind then, provided I have enough patience.

Nodding to myself I got up from my boxy seat and stretched, cracking my neck to get rid of any kinks. It was time to wander around Vale, and eventually, head to the island of Patch to _observe_ two of the main cast in order to check their ages.

Heh, see what I did there? Yang would be proud of me.

I stuck my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and walked out of the warehouse, making sure to intensely look at everything. Before I even left the room I woke up in I got the message I had created the observe skill. I was going to abuse the hell out of the skill and make sure to rank it up as high as possible just in case.

* * *

I had noticed it was around midday when I got outside the warehouse, a quick check with my handy dandy new scroll also helped.

My first order of business once outside was to see if I really had gone into the world of Remnant. The answer to that question? Yes, yes I did. My scroll aside, I practically stared at every single hard-light lamppost and Dust store I passed by. Once the novelty wore off a bit, I yanked my scroll back out of my inventory and opened it.

It basically worked like an iPhone, with the addition of being able to expand its screen from the compact mode to iPhone size, and up to iPad levels. Finding the equivalent of google maps was a little challenging because I didn't know what any of the app icons meant, but once I found it I made my way to the nearest mall.

The reason? A ton of people in a crowded space and plenty of stores to buy stuff from. I needed to practice my Pickpocketing skill and level up Thief Mastery while finding some new duds. While I might've gone with my current clothing choice back in my own world, a soon to be master criminal could not have anything less than the best.

I spent the next two hours just walking around and pickpocketing random strangers. I ended up leveling the mastery skill by one and the actual pickpocketing skill by two and a half. Though later on, I figure getting more levels in them would take a lot longer. On the upside, I made off with about an extra three grand of Lien.

My next order of business is to buy some new clothes while walking around and stealing people's wallets I found a few stores that seemed to have what I wanted. What I wanted being Roman's clothing style, scarf, jacket, hat and all. And some other miscellaneous clothing to use as hiding my identity for any crimes I'd need to commit before revealing myself publicly, I made sure to go full on ninja suit for those.

Ah right, I forgot. I am going to be a criminal during my time here, did I not mention that? It's a thing I do in games, even if my current situation borders the line between real life and a game. I'll always go the route of an assassin or a thief in RPGs, one of my current favorites being the illusionist-assassin build in Skyrim. Invisibility plus hard-hitting sneak attacks is broken in one versus one combat.

But I'll admit I don't particularly like the thought of killing someone else, even if Gamer's Mind would let me do it easily and is something that will likely happen sometime down the line.

I am going to be a thief, and not just because I want to live a fantasy of mine. This world needs Roman Torchwick in order to move forward, _I_ am needed now to move this world forward. While I don't abhor the idea of being a hero, I just don't really want to be one. Let everyone else die for what was right, I going to have fun for as long as this fantasy will let me.

Of course, I naturally don't really want Cinder to win, because really if she _does_ win then that means Salem wins and then humanity is doomed. I can't have fun with a doomed humanity. And so I plan on betraying the bitch as soon as feasibly possible, depending on how strong she will be in comparison to me. But not until I make sure to throw her ass under the Ozpin train. No one kills Pyrrha under my watch damn it! She still needs to properly confess to her future husband…

Anyway, I won't bore you with clothes shopping as it was a fairly simple get in, observe the clothing, buy any particularly _interesting_ clothing that stands out, get out, stuff everything into my inventory, type of deal. Now, to complete the look, I just had to create melodic cudgel. I won't actually wear the clothing until I get it, no need to spoil the look just yet. The problem I faced was materials and where to get them. I'm sure I could probably pay someone to use their forge, or perhaps Signal Academy as I wasn't wanted just yet.

But before I do that I need to level up a craft skill. Which probably means finding a skill book. I mean… in the original webtoon, Han Jee-Han has only a singular crafting skill that looks to encompass everything. Maybe if I create the skill first I could incorporate knowledge from books into the skill. I'll have to give that a shot soon, I really need to get a weapon so I can start doing some hardcore training.

" _Yeah, training really needs to st-"_ I let out a loud "Oomph!" and a grunt as I slammed butt first on the floor of the mall's hallway. I couldn't help but notice the twenty MP of damage I took from that fall, meaning whatever hit me had to be going faster than a normal civilian.

"I'm so sorry mister!" Judging by the voice I could immediately tell that whoever slammed into me was a young girl.

I picked myself up, dusting my pants. "It's fine kid, just watch where you're go-" I paused in my speech when I finally got a look at who hit me, I stared in disbelief at the girl in front of me while I finished my sentence before it got too awkward, "-ing..."

On one hand, I did not necessarily have to stalk the home of a trained hunter and his two young daughters like some sort of creep. On the other I was now staring down at the _real_ Roman Torchwick's red colored, silver-eyed, nemesis, Ruby Rose, albeit much younger than canon.

Not the worst thing to ever happen, and I'll admit just a little bit of fangasming was going on under my cool looking exterior, after all, I am not a (big time) criminal right now and she probably isn't a huntress in training just yet. But I didn't want to create any divergences from canon until I was one hundred percent positive I could manipulate things into what I want to happen. Meeting Ruby now was certainly a divergence from canon.

I did not like this. How do I plan around this? Is it possible it will affect things to come in a major way? With my relatively low INT stat right now I simply couldn't think that far ahead. Not yet at least. I needed to distance myself from this girl for now. But… justing looking into those big, silver, adorable doe-eyes...

Taking a deep and silent breath through my nose, I couldn't help but only think of one thing that could summarize this.

" _Shit."_

* * *

 **Current Stat spread (Note that I won't list Skills here, that would eventually make this waaay too long of a list. I'll list improvements as they become relevant):**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 10 (Next Level: 1000/5500)**

 **Title: None**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 760**

 **MP: 721**

 **STR: 18.2 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%)]**

 **VIT: 26 [Base 20 + 6(30%)]**

 **DEX: 31.9 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%)]**

 **INT: 22.1 [Base 17 + 5.1(30%)]**

 **WIS: 14.3 [Base 11 + 3.3(30%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 2480**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N) Neo comes later, I promise. I'm gonna have a whole arc of this story dedicated to her.**

* * *

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 2**

I managed to mostly ignore how adorable young Ruby looked like, an impressive feat, and instead I focused on the text that floated just above her head.

 **Little Red, Little Red**

 **[Silver-eyed Warrior]**

 **Lv 8 Ruby Rose**

Ugh, she is clearly younger than her canon self and yet she is almost the same level as I am. But what was with that "Silver-eyed Warrior" thing? Was that her job or class? I know about that whole "Silver eyes" story Qrow talked about in the season three finale, but it's still a weird class to have. I would have, personally, made some weird or vague "Reaper" reference considering her future choice of weapon. Then again, I'm not all that imaginative when it comes to naming things.

Shrugging off the weird class of hers I casually used the observe skill on her to see if I could glean any useful info. One bit of information from the floating text box was definitely useful, and I could easily ignore what her stats were right now. If observe was right, and I had very little reason to doubt that it wasn't, then the Ruby Rose before me was ten years old. That means I was five years before canon, five years to prepare myself.

I could work with that…

"I'm really, really, really, _really_ sorry!" Ruby repeated herself, apparently not convinced I didn't actually care all that much. She continued her rather fast paced and very animated apologizing, "My dad keeps saying I shouldn't use my semblance like that in crowded areas, that I'm going to hit someone, and then I _did_ just now and I feel really bad right now!"

I finished dusting off my hoodie and replied, "Like I said, it's fine kid. I've got aura, so I'm better off taking that hit than someone else."

"Still…" Ruby trailed off, looking down sadly.

I mentally groaned at my misfortune, no one should have to see Ruby sad. And it's not helping to seal my criminal mastermind image I'm trying to build up when I really want to run up to her and hug her. Sighing lightly out loud I said, "Ok kid, you wanna make it up to me? Then how about you tell me why you were running around like that." While she was still looking down I discreetly pulled a cookie I bought from the cafeteria out of my inventory and waved it in front of her face, "Deal?"

The cookie was promptly gone from my hand with a flash of movement from the girl, she really _is_ fast. "Deal!" she happily chirped. Once the cookie was successfully shoved down her throat she began walking down the mall's hallways, swiveling her head around as if trying to find something, me trailing along right next to her.

"So…" I prompted, trying to start the conversation.

She started, "Oh right! I'm trying to find my dad, he's a really strong hunter, and my big sis who just enrolled at Signal Academy! I lost them in the crowd a while ago after I… got distracted."

 **[Quest Created!]**

 **Ruby Rose has gotten lost in the mall and needs to find her family. Keep her company until she reunites with either her father or her older sister.**

 **Success: 1000XP, 200 Lien, increased closeness with Ruby Rose, 1 random skill book**

 **Failure: Decreased closeness with Ruby Rose**

Probably something about weapons, that is if she was a super weapons nut at her current age anyhow. She doesn't seem too different from what I know. I accepted the quest with a press of a finger, I really wanted that skill book. I mean, the quest was super easy with almost no real penalty if I somehow screwed it up.

"I see," I replied, "So where did you last lose them at? This mall is pretty big, trying to find them at random will take a while."

She blushed and rubbed the back of her head bashfully, "Ahaha... I don't really remember. I wasn't paying attention to the stores."

Well, that made things more difficult than what was really needed. But I mean you have a loud, blonde sister and her big blonde father, I doubt things will be that difficult with those two frantically searching for Ruby. "Well kid, at least your family isn't trying to tear up the mall to find you."

Ruby paled as soon as I finished that sentence and held her head in her hands, "Oh my gosh! They _would_ destroy the mall trying to find me! They get really overprotective sometimes!"

I could tell she was panicking if her unintelligible and quick babbling about nothing was any indication. It wasn't a hard guess to make and I didn't think most of those words she was speaking were in English. I should probably stop it before it gets any worse than it already was.

"Kid! Kid! Stop the panicking," I nearly shouted, taking out another cookie and shoving it in her mouth, effectively shutting her up.

 **[Through the use of a special action the skill "Calm" has been created!]**

 **[Calm (Active) Lv1: EXP 0.0%**

 **The ability to calm someone down through the use of your words. Perhaps not as quick as a knockout, but it does leave a better lasting impression on the person you are calming down.**

 **-When being used to calm someone down, increases calming effectiveness by 50%.**

 **-Cost 0]**

 **[Through continued use of a certain action the skill "Bribe" has been created!]**

 **[Bribe (Active) Lv1: EXP 0.0%**

 **You want this money? Yeah, you do. Don't worry about what I'm doing over there, just say you didn't see nothing and all this money is yours.**

 **-When bribing someone, a 50% increase in effectiveness.**

 **-20% decrease in the chance the bribee in question refuses the bribe.**

 **-Cost 0]**

As I dismissed the notifications Ruby chewed the treat post haste and upon swallowing she sheepishly looked up at me, "Sorry." After a few moments she tilted her head to the side, seeming to think of something for the first time, "By the way, where are you getting those cookies from?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. I waved my hands mysteriously in front of her face, making sure to keep her attention on the fancy tricks while keeping my inventory open. "Magic," I said just as one of my hands went right past the inventory screen and pulled out another cookie with a flick of my wrist.

Ruby's eyes went completely bug-eyed, I could practically see stars sparkling around them as she nearly danced in place. "You're a wizard?! That's _soo_ cool! How do you do it?!"

I smirked and gave her the cookie, which she now looked at much more reverently, "Come on kid, I gotta keep _some_ secrets."

She pouted at me and looked about to say something else. Or she would have, at any rate, if she wasn't interrupted before she had the chance.

"Ruby!" came a sudden ecstatic voice as a small, blonde streak shot out of the crowd of people and tackled the smaller girl to the ground in a monstrous hug. "Where did you go?! Oh, I am never letting you out of my sight!" The younger Yang pointed a finger at Ruby's face, "Mark my words."

 **The Spark before the Burn**

 **Lv 13 Yang Xiao-Long**

Gods above, a twelve-year-old first-year Signal student was stronger than I was now. Did Roman somehow get majorly nerfed when I took over his body just so I actually had something to do? This was complete _bullshit_! Barely a few hours into my new life and I already wanted to scream in rage to the heavens.

Also, why did Yang not have a class of her own? I would have thought there would at least be something like "Brawler" or "Signal First Year" under her title. Maybe a class is supposed to be special? Like Ruby being some sort of legendary super warrior and me being The Gamer? Perhaps I could figure that out some other time if I really wanted to know.

"Who's your friend?" Yang asked suspiciously, finally noticing me for the first time. I didn't blame her for the suspiciousness, I _was_ a twenty-something year old man hanging around her ten year old sister after all.

Actually, speaking of my age, what age _is_ Roman anyway? I don't think that was ever covered in the series or any panels and I didn't see it in my stats screen. I personally just thought he was mid-twenties to mid-thirties at the most. He doesn't really _look_ all that old… maybe I'll try and figure it out later.

"Uh…" Ruby trailed off as she pushed her sister off of her and stood back up, scratching her cheek, "You know, I never really asked what your name was. Weird. Anyway, I'm Ruby! And this is my big sister Yang!" She stuck her hand out for me to shake after her official introduction.

I smirked as I took her small hand and shook it, at this point thinking about divergence from canon was a non-issue. But I'll have to make an effort to avoid her now. "Roman, Roman Torchwick. I'll be famous soon, so you both should remember the name."

Yang snorted and rested a fist on her hip, a surprisingly mature looking pose for someone so young, "You? Famous? I'd bet a hundred Lien you'll never get to that point. You don't look like much."

" _Considering she was higher leveled than me, I guess she was allowed to say that,"_ I thought to myself, amused at Ruby's admonishment for her sister's rudeness. I wagged a finger at Yang, "I'll hold you to that, blondie. Now, while this has been fun, I am needed elsewhere. I have things to do, perhaps we will meet again someday."

I waved a very short goodbye at the two sisters. Only Ruby seemed to enthusiastically return the gesture, Yang kinda just glared at me but gave in and waved back when Ruby jabbed her elbow into her ribs. I laughed to myself and thought, " _Oh well, can't win them all."_

Besides, I don't really need to be on good terms with her anyway, not with what I was going to do.

* * *

I finally started to leave the mall, pickpocketing along the way. I was paying close attention to the text box saying I completed my newest quest.

 **[Quest Complete!]**

 **Ruby has been reunited with her older sister, and you kept her company the entire time. Truly, you are a gentleman.**

 **Rewards:**

 **-1000XP**

 **-200 Lien**

 **-increased closeness with Ruby Rose**

 **-skill book "Create Instant Dungeon" added to your inventory**

I grinned in delight when I saw which skill book I got. Now that I have that skill I can grind it to oblivion, with a good high level in it I doubt I'd even have to leave the city to train. I chuckled to myself, thinking about how much I'm going to abuse the system. I immediately pulled the skill book out as I looked around to make sure no one saw what I was about to do. Certain that the coast was clear, I accepted the learn option and watched as it dissolved before my eyes. Information flooded into my head and the how-to of making and leaving instant dungeons was within my mind's reach.

I also finally got my first title too, tapping a finger to dismiss the quest success box I then tapped on the next one, right on the title. Carefully reading what it said as I left one of the mall's entrances.

 **[Apprentice Pickpocket]**

 **-Obtained by pickpocketing people 100 times, you sneaky thief you.**

 **-Pickpocketing speed is increased by 30%**

 **-Chance of being noticed by others during your nefarious acts decreased by 20%.**

 **-Dexterity increased by 10 when using the "Pickpocket" skill.**

I whistled in appreciation at the title, while it would not help me much in combat it would help me make money so I equipped it anyway. I did notice the one hundred times I had to pickpocket people in order to get the title. Since Han Jee-Han's "Apprentice Undead Hunter" title took only half of that then whatever decides things with my power determined that since pickpocketing was so easy it takes more to get better titles in it.

Makes sense, but it does make things time-consuming. While I do have five years to prepare, I don't want to waste time pickpocketing when I could be raising my stats and level. Speaking of levels and stats, I need to get a weapon. Pulling out my scroll, I looked up the nearest weapons shop and headed straight there.

Vale is a lot busier than what the show can show us, as too many models walking around would lag things up. The streets were crowded and ripe with stealing and observing chances, since I left Ruby and Yang I probably increased my funds by another four hundred Lien. It didn't take long to get observe to level ten, it was already almost there back at the mall. It took maybe thirty minutes of walking to get to my destination. Once the shop I was looking for was in sight I forcibly squeezed myself through the crowd, getting some nasty looks in return, and strolled right in.

The interior of the shop was what you'd expect, rows of shelves filled with smaller weapons like knives and pistols. The walls had their own kind of shelves to hold swords and larger weapons, the windows to the outside had small shelves in front of them filled with magazines, and a sales counter stood right in front of the doorway. I didn't see any dust being sold, but maybe they only sold dust rounds and not the stuff straight up.

"Welcome to Marigold's Weapons Shop, our weapons are some of the highest quality! How may I help you?" The big man behind the sales counter politely welcomed me. He was rather high leveled for a civilian, level twenty but observe told me he had no Aura unlocked, so he probably just had a bit of combat training.

Putting that thought to the side I walked up to the counter, "I was looking to see if you do custom orders. I have a special cane weapon I'd like to have made."

The older man shrugged and pulled out some paper from under the counter, "Certainly, have any specifics and a design?"

And so I told him what I knew of Melodic Cudgel, even going so far as to draw what it looked like from memory. I also got a drawing skill from that, it helped make the picture look much better. The shopkeeper, Marigold was his name and I had to force myself to not laugh at it, nodded once he finished getting what he needed.

"Alright, this looks easy enough, I can have it done in two days max. But I'll need a thousand Lien up front and two when it's finished, some of the materials I'll need don't come cheap," Marigold said. I had observed him again in case he was trying to jip me, turns out I didn't need to as he was being completely honest.

I nodded in acceptance and pulled out the one grand from my inventory. I can actually make the screen appear wherever I want to, so discreetly pulling out things from it was pretty easy if used with a little bit of creativity. I fanned out the money before the shopkeeper and let him count it out, watching him nod to himself when he finished.

"Alright, everything looks to be in order. Got a name and scroll number I can use?"

"Roman, Roman Torchwick," was my reply as I wrote my scroll number on the paper between us, I needed to get used to being called that name. "Also, I would like to buy some temporary weapons in the meantime. Just a simple pistol and mace if you would."

* * *

The extra two weapons plus the ammo for the pistol took another eight hundred off of me. But It was worth it as I could just make that money back later. Actually, scratch later, I'm going to do it now. I have a lot to do and should get my momentum rolling.

I stuck the mace in my right hand slot in my inventory and put the pistol in my left hand slot for easy equipping. That done, I started to make my way back to the warehouse I woke up in.

Experimentally I pulled my mace out of my inventory, watching as it materialized out of the small box. It was a simple weapon I noted as I twirled it around with my hand, kinda Like Cardin Winchester's mace but much smaller. I used observe on the mace, keeping in mind the thinning crowd as the scenery changed from the commercial district to the industrial.

 **[Steel Mace**

 **-Quality: Common**

 **-There is nothing particularly special about this mace. It's the kind of weapon a person on a budget would buy.**

 **-Spiked: 30% armor penetration]**

The armor penetration is useful, which was why I bought it and not it's slightly cheaper non-spiked cousin. I needed to get blunt mastery and any shooting skill leveled up, because if my hunch was correct then my soon to be made cane would probably benefit from both of those skills. Better to get some basic stuff out of the way.

 **[By thinking and carefully planning ahead, your INT has gone up by one!]**

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered and swiped the message away. I strolled through the warehouse's destroyed door until I found myself standing in the middle of the storage bay. "Welp, no better time than now to train my skills."

I raised my left hand into the air, gathered Aura in my hand, and shouted, "Create Instant Dungeon!"

 **[Create Instant Dungeon (Active) Lv1 EXP: 5.0%**

 **You can make your own dungeons with this skill, higher levels will allow for more advanced Grimm to be spawned.**

 **Available Dungeons List:**

 **1\. Empty Dungeon - No Grimm]**

The world shimmered around me, I looked around to see if anything changed but it looked just like the real world. I shrugged, "Time to get basic skills first then, I'll aim for Grimm spawning later."

There were a few large leftover boxes from whatever failed company used this warehouse last. I gathered them all in one location off to the side and put one in the middle of the room. Gripping my mace I swung at the box, lightly enough to not destroy it in one go but not light enough that it would not register as an attack.

The box still splintered from the impact, I'd guess that it would not last for more than two more hits. I repeated the action until the box was completely destroyed.

 **[Through the continued use of a certain action, the skill "Blunt Mastery" has been created!]**

I grinned and checked to see what it did.

 **[Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%**

 **Let's you use blunt weapons such as clubs, maces, staves, and canes better than you could before.**

 **-10% Increase in attack damage with a blunt weapon.**

 **-5% increase in attack speed with a blunt weapon.**

 **-5% increase in defence if a blunt weapon is used to defend.]**

It was basically like the comic then, besides the extra increase in defense if I used the weapon to defend myself with. Makes sense as people in RWBY tend to use weapons to defend themselves with, hell Cardin and the real Roman deflected bullets.

I put my mace back in my inventory and pulled out my pistol, I made sure it was loaded before pointing it at one of the boxes. I fired the pistol at the box and when I didn't get an instant skill creation I repeated the action until the skill creation text popped up.

 **[Firearm Mastery (Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%**

 **Allows for better aiming and faster reload time with all firearms.**

 **-10% Increase in attack damage with a firearm.**

 **-5% Increase in attack speed with a firearm.**

 **-10% Better aiming with a firearm.]**

Already, I can see myself getting stronger. Once I put away my pistol I had only a few things left to do. One was leveling the Dungeon skill to level two, I think I could get the lowest level of dungeons besides an empty one at that level. The second was creating a meditation skill to recover MP and HP faster. Once both of those are achieved, I'm basically going to be set.

In hindsight, I'm so glad I broke canon a bit and met Ruby before the first episode.

* * *

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 10 (Next Level: 2000/5500)**

 **Title: Apprentice Pickpocket**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 760**

 **MP: 734**

 **STR: 18.2 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%)]**

 **VIT: 26 [Base 20 + 6(30%)]**

 **DEX: 31.9 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%)]**

 **INT: 23.4 [Base 18 + 5.4(30%)]**

 **WIS: 14.3 [Base 11 + 3.3(30%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 1280**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N) I made a little oopsie with the dexterity stat, forgot to add the 15% increase from the pickpocket skill. Previous chapters have been corrected.**

* * *

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 3**

I made a miscalculation. Meditation is really, really hard when you were the type of person who, in their entire life, hasn't had the need to sit completely still for a long period of time. This is a fact I learned the hard way when I spent at least two hours trying, and failing, to create a skill like that. I even tried manipulating my aura around my body during the process, that didn't work out and I'm surprised I didn't get some weird skill for that one. I did create Energy Bolt just for the hell of it, a useful knock-down spell that increases in attack alongside my INT, it only has a range of ten meters though. But yeah, I needed to go to a library so I can learn this stupid thing the easy way. As luck may have it one is only a couple of blocks into the commercial district and is still open.

So, I made my way out of the empty instant dungeon I created and began my short journey to the library. I decided to use my time walking there wisely and continuously made and left instant dungeons. At the very least I leveled that up two more times before I got to the entrance to the library. As it stands, the lowest leveled dungeon is predictably a Beowolf one, followed by Boarbatusks, then Creeps, Ursa, Nevermores, then Griffins. Though the skill's description lists each one as basic, meaning that Alphas probably aren't in each dungeon unless it's a boss. I'd wager that if I level the dungeon skill more I'd eventually unlock dungeons consisting of only Alphas.

Sounds fun, right?

I entered the library and there wasn't much to note about it. If you can think of rows of bookshelves and the occasional tables, tables with computers on them, and chairs for reading then you have a pretty good idea of what this place looked like. I made my way over to the help desk and asked the young, pretty librarian where I could find books about meditation and fighting.

Turns out there are lots of stuff centered around those kinds of things and that section of the library was pretty big. As I made my way around the shelves I was constantly using my observe skill on each and every book, a few popped up as a skill book and I checked to see which was which. I managed to find a meditation skill book, a few crafting books centered around weapons making, I only took one as I didn't need more than that, and a hunter book describing how to use your aura as a projectile slash. Luckily enough I also found a book describing how to use aura to heal, although it apparently needs dust as a sort of catalyst, and I stuffed all of those books into my inventory. I didn't find anything else that would have been useful to me, probably because most hunters learn stuff like this in hunter school and I'm at a public library.

I quickly left the library after stealing the books and made my way back to the warehouse, still constantly creating and leaving dungeons. Once I was back in another empty dungeon at the warehouse I took the meditation skill book out of my inventory and absorbed it.

 **[Hunter's Meditation (Passive/Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Throughout time trained Hunters have used this technique to recover quickly after a battle. By reaching into themselves they can tap into their soul to calm their raging battle spirit and allow their soul to rest. Masters of this skill have even come to have a true understanding of themselves, increasing their own abilities.**

 **-Passively increases STR by 10%**

 **-Passively increases DEX by 10%**

 **-Passively increases VIT by 10%**

 **-Passively increases INT by 10%**

 **-Passively increases WIS by 10%**

 **-When active, allows user to go into meditation to restore lost HP and MP**

 **-When active HP recovery is increased by 10%/min**

 **-When active MP recovery is increased by 10%/min**

 **-If attacked and meditation is forcibly disrupted, the status "Aura imbalance" is placed on the user and is unable to use MP for five minutes.**

I laughed, that was a wonderful skill to have found. I shook my head, once I start putting stat points into my status I can expect to have a huge growth in power. But for now let's put that to the side, I have a healing skill to learn. I pulled up my inventory and yanked the "Aura Mend" skill book out. I tapped "yes" to confirm learning the ability, but was cockblocked.

 **[You can not learn this skill. INT of 50 is required.]**

Damn… oh well, I can get it later. I put the book back into my inventory and took out the crafting one. I was able to learn that one at least. And like I expected it was kinda universal, at the very least it keeps things simple.

 **[Craft (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **The people of Remnant would have died out to the Grimm long ago if they couldn't make anything. So honor your ancestors by honing your ability to make something out of seemingly useless stuff!**

 **Crafted objects become better in quality as mastery rises.**

 **Known blueprints: 0**

 **Chance to fail when crafting - 50%**

Now, I just need to see if I can do that aura far striking thing. I brought the book out in the open and tapped on learn.

 **[You can not learn this skill. 40 INT and 25 WIS is required.]**

I grunted in annoyance but accepted that I couldn't learn the skill just yet.

With that out of the way, I rose my hand into the air and left the empty dungeon, quickly creating a new Beowolf dungeon. This time there was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, things felt _evil_. I looked around and even the shadows seemed longer and more dark I could tell by the slight lack of light coming in through the warehouse windows that even the sun was a tad dimmer looking, I heard howling far in the distance. As I was about to make my way outside I stopped short as a black puddle began forming on the warehouse's ground, a young Beowolf clawing itself out of it.

Even I shivered, it was one thing to see it crawl out of the puddle on the computer but in real life? _Fucking scary._

As if sensing my discomfort at seeing it crawling out of whatever hell created it, the Beowolf sniffed the air before turning its head to look at me. It growled and stomped forward, I reacted calmly and yanked my weapons out of my inventory. This was going to be my first ever taste of combat, but I was confident I was going to win.

 **Lv10 Newly-Spawned Beowolf**

" _Observe!"_

 **[Newly-Spawned Beowolf Lv10]**

 **One of the most common enemies of man and this one was just born! While they are individually weak, in large enough groups they can be dangerous to the unsuspecting hunter. Or, well… if that hunter is stupidly weak.**

 **HP: 750**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 20**

 **VIT: 25**

 **DEX: 10**

 **INT: 3**

 **WIS: 1**

 **LUK: 5**

 **Status: Grimm (Unable to have or use MP)**

It charged me without another moment's hesitation, I took a quick hop back and let its claws slam into the ground. I quickly swung my mace down onto its head, slamming its head into its own impaled claws. It roared at me for that, despite my attack taking a good third of its health off. Ripping its claws out of the ground it tried another swing.

But once more I just leaped out of the way, it seemed that despite its impressive showing of strength by cracking the hard concrete floor of the warehouse it did not have much in the way of planning. I could easily just dodge around its attacks and smack it without taking any damage whatsoever. So I just raised my pistol and aimed for the head, in just two critical shots the beowolf died.

"That was somewhat lackluster," I remarked to myself.

 **[You received 280XP!]**

I closed the XP message and looked at where the beowolf died, hoping for loot. It did drop a Beowolf fang, which was a crafting item apparently, but no money. I shrugged and stuck the fang into my inventory, maybe I'll find Lien in other kills. And so with that small combat tutorial out of the way I strutted out of the warehouse, casually twirling my mace around.

The second I stepped out of the broken doorway I heard three howls to my right, it seemed some Beowolves just so happened to be walking around nearby and saw me. They began their charge to me but this time I didn't stand around to see how they fought, I had a vague understanding from the previous one.

 **Lv9 Newly-Spawned Beowolf**

 **Lv10 Newly-Spawned Beowolf**

 **Lv9 Newly-Spawned Beowolf**

My charge was much faster than theirs, probably because my dexterity was a little more than three times higher than theirs. The leading Beowolf swung its claws down, intending to slam me into the ground so its brethren could rip me apart, I wasn't having that. I jumped over the claw, watching as its comrades come to a skidding halt to try as their mediocre plan fell apart. I swung down as hard as I could at the head of the Beowolf who tried to smash me, adding a little bit of MP into the mix.

As a result, I managed to create "Power Strike", a skill I had completely forgotten about. It increases the critical hit rating of my strikes by fifteen percent and adds a fifty percent increase in damage at level one. I suddenly felt that I was an incredibly stupid person, I didn't create this obvious and very helpful skill from the get-go after all.

 **[By understanding a part of yourself better, mastery of "Hunter's Meditation" has risen by 10%]**

Oh, kiss my ass…

The Beowolf I slammed a power strike into died immediately, the armor penetration from my mace plus a good critical hit from the power strike to the head made sure of that. I landed lightly on my feet and fired my pistol at the other two Beowolves just as they renewed their charge. The pistol didn't seem to do as much damage at one time like my mace, but it made getting criticals from striking the head so much easier. And while the basic hits on the body don't do a ton of damage, the criticals on the head do a lot of damage as quickly as I could pull the trigger.

 **[Blunt Weapon Mastery has gained a level]**

 **[Firearm Mastery has gained a level]**

 **[You have gained 820 XP]**

As you can see, resolving easy fights like this went by quickly. And it seems that actual combat increases combat related skills much quicker and getting criticals probably gives bonuses to XP in skill gains. I brought my pistol down and examined the battlefield, I found another fang and a few vials of random Dust. No money though.

I frowned and furrowed my brow. I killed four Beowolves, surely money is not a rare drop. That would be silly.

I needed to test this out some more…

 **[You have gained 3 levels!]**

 **[Blunt Weapon Mastery has risen by 2 levels!]**

 **[Firearm Mastery has risen by 2 levels!]**

 **[Power Strike has risen by 3 levels!]**

 **[Aura has increased by 1 level!]**

I did a lot of grinding this past couple of hours, and during that grinding, I have learned a lot. The first is that the Grimm do _not_ drop Lien. I have killed a lot of Grimm, a little over seventy, in fact, I even got an "Apprentice Grimm Slayer" title that I had quickly equipped. I also managed to learn the "Sense Danger" and "Detect Bloodlust" skills from fighting the Grimm, two useful skills on their own that should get better the more I fight in this place. But not a single card of Lien, just Dust, and fangs, and while the Dust was helpful it still worried me a lot. Not because it would be difficult to gain Lien, after all, I could just steal it, but because I would have to use perfectly good training time to go and steal the Lien in the first place.

The second is that Aura also increases by _spending_ MP, it could be on anything, even getting hit. That makes it easy to level up, but also tedious as hell because since it was so easy to level it up it takes a long time to do so. Everything that does level it up only does so in small amounts. Probably as some sort of balancing system.

"Shit," I eloquently put it as I thought about what I had learned. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" I slammed my mace into the ground in frustration to punctuate each swear word, breathing heavily despite not having an actual intense workout.

 **[Blunt Weapons Mastery has risen by 1 level!]**

I sighed and let my anger dissipate when I saw the random pop-up and lifted my mace back up, closing the text.

I pulled out my scroll and checked the time, it was around seven in the evening. I made my decision since I have a lot of food I stuffed into my inventory from a few random stops I had in the mall I'll just eat dinner now and train for the rest of the night. It's not like I have someone waiting for me at home right now and I can make the two grand I'll need to pay for my new weapon tomorrow.

 **[You have gained 2 levels!]**

 **[Blunt Weapon Mastery has risen by 4 levels!]**

 **[Firearm Mastery has risen by 1 levels!]**

 **[Power Strike has risen by 5 levels!]**

 **[Sense Danger has risen by 3 levels!]**

 **[Detect Bloodlust has risen by 3 levels!]**

I spent the next few hours until midnight just killing Beowolves, I didn't get another Aura level, but I have come pretty close to it by applying liberal use of Power Strike. I also decided to spend most of this training session leveling up Blunt Weapon Mastery before Firearm Mastery. I still had to kill Beowolves with the pistol, but only when there were _just_ a bit too many for me to take on comfortably in melee. I was surprised there wasn't a boss Beowolf coming out, I _have_ killed a lot of them after all. I shrugged, thinking that maybe it'll come out if I get stronger.

" _You know what? I'd say that tonight was pretty productive,"_ I thought to myself even despite a few hiccups and bad realizations I had just a few hours ago. Gaining five levels in such a short time has put me in a good mood, so I left the dungeon and walked to a nearby motel with just a bit of a skip in my step.

* * *

 _Ding! Ding! Ding_!

 **[You have slept in a bed. HP and MP have been fully restored and all negative status effects have been cured.]**

I jumped and flailed out of bed in surprise. That was the sound of obnoxious dinging that woke me up exactly eight hours after I fell asleep. It seems that my newfound power wants me to have a full eight hours of a good night's rest, but no more. I didn't mind really, it made resting a bit more efficient and was just a glorified alarm clock that way.

"Still," I mumbled to myself over a granola bar. "That scared the hell out of me," I said as I glared at the message I purposely left floating there while throwing the granola wrapper away.

But anyway, I have a big day today and I need to get started now. But first I need to allocate my stat points, and since I gained five levels I have thirty-five stat points to spend if I included the ones I got from the tutorial.

" _Status."_

"Let's see," I said to myself as I tapped a finger to my chin. "I know that far striking skill needs twenty-five wisdom, so I should definitely put fourteen points there. That means I have twenty-one more to spend… how should I spend them?"

I don't need the vitality right now, or the strength, I could get the two of those stats up with passive bonuses and some general training for the free stat points. I'll have to go and get some weights sometime. My dexterity is pretty high already, my highest stat right at this moment, and I could probably still get some free stat points in that if I worked hard enough. And since I don't want to rely on luck the only logical choice would be to raise my intelligence.

I nodded to myself and set fourteen points into wisdom before placing every remaining one into intelligence. I could feel myself get smarter and my MP pool grow even bigger, I knew I made the right choice. I just had to raise my level three more times to get my intelligence to fifty, I'll have both of my new skills by tonight. I took a nice, long glance at my new stats screen and grinned in pride.

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 15 (Next Level: 3680/12,000)**

 **Title: Apprentice Grimm Slayer**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 1,030**

 **MP: 1,296**

 **STR: 19.6 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%) + 1.4(10%)]**

 **VIT: 28 [Base 20 + 6(30%) + 2(10%)]**

 **DEX: 34.1 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%) + 2.2(10%)]**

 **INT: 54.6 [Base 39 + 11.7(30%) + 3.9(10%)]**

 **WIS: 35 [Base 25 + 7.5(30%) + 2.5(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 0**

 **Lien: 1180**

 **Status Effects: None**

After I changed my title to Apprentice Pickpocket I tapped the screen closed it and wandered out of the motel room, hands in the pockets of some random street clothes I bought yesterday. I eyed the people on the sidewalks around me, already going into pickpocket mode. Since I met the random main cast members in the mall yesterday I decided to avoid going there for a little while, lest I somehow bump horns into Adam Fucking Taurus or something like that.

Nonetheless, I just walked around Vale and pickpocketed random strangers until noon. Thanks to the benefits of my new title, a little more dexterity, and a few extra levels in the pickpocket skill, I was able to take people's money way more often and much faster than before. By the time lunch was to come around I made double what I was supposed to make.

As I sat down at A Simple Wok and slurped up some really awesome noodles I couldn't help but ponder how incredibly inefficient I was being by just trying to get by on pickpocketing alone. Sure, I could make more money in a few hours than one person could in a day, but in the grand scheme of things, it was practically extremely light spending money. I needed either an instant larger cash income or at the very least a consistent one. I could try starting my own gang and have them start working on making money and building up a reputation, but that would take a lot of time and effort to get it to any sort of respectable size.

Plus, I'd have to constantly manage the people under my command which, along with the management of the gang itself, would seriously cut into my training time. I simply could not waste time and effort trying to sort of a gang _and_ prepare myself for the next few years. I set my bowl down and drank from my glass of water, " _So, pickpocketing is out for long term problems, starting a gang is out because of time constraints and difficulty. Smuggling?"_

I could do smuggling, in fact, smuggling would be trivially easy with my power. Stuffing the merchandise into my inventory and flying first class across the continents with no problems whatsoever would net me a quick and easy reputation as a reliable smuggler. Problem was that I'd be constantly moving around in airships, and I wouldn't want to try and create a dungeon in one, only to fall into the ocean once I left it. So no smuggling, as much as it sucks.

I could be a gun for hire, with my potential for growth I can be a strong bodyguard for anyone. The problem with that is that I'd be working for someone else, on their time and their schedule. While I am not prideful and would be willing to actually work for someone else, for now, I needed things to be on my schedule and not someone else's.

I suppose my standards and needs don't leave much open for management, travel, or hired work of any kind. If I had enough money on me right now I could probably hire some people from another shady individual and do some high profile robberies. But since I don't have too much in the way of money, for now, I could do some smaller robberies on my own and sell any merchandise I get to a black market broker. I should perhaps actually steal from a store before I try and approach anyone, I need to look legit. Maybe something high profile like Dust. I'm certain Junior could point me in the right direction of a black market broker for a fee, a fee I'd be happy to pay for.

I set my water down and left the old man a generous tip, I was going to rob someone who looks like him in five years anyway. He could think of it as an apology in advance. I needed to find a place to break into tonight, leveling could wait just a little bit longer.

* * *

 **(A/N) And now our protagonist starts his descent into real crime. The day to day chapter updates will be slowed, the only reason I could do it was because I had a free day and could write two chapters in a day.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 15 (Next Level: 3680/12,000)**

 **Title: Apprentice Pickpocket**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 1,030**

 **MP: 1,296**

 **STR: 19.6 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%) + 1.4(10%)]**

 **VIT: 28 [Base 20 + 6(30%) + 2(10%)]**

 **DEX: 34.1 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%) + 2.2(10%)]**

 **INT: 54.6 [Base 39 + 11.7(30%) + 3.9(10%)]**

 **WIS: 35 [Base 25 + 7.5(30%) + 2.5(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 0**

 **Lien: 5160**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 4**

 **[You have obtained the Skill Book "Pick Lock"! Would you like to learn this skill?]**

I tapped the "yes" button as I idly slammed my mace one more time into my leg, letting out only a mild grunt of pain. I'd grown a tad used to it after spending the past hour or so repeating the action. Plus, raising the "Physical Endurance" skill to new levels also lessened the pain with each one. I think I got it to about level eight so far. My new "Pick Lock" skill, that I got from a small bookstore on the way back to the warehouse, simply increased the chance of successfully picking a lock and decreased the chance of my lockpicks breaking with each level. Handy skill, for a thief, though I didn't feel like I'd really need it. But it is best to have options.

I also found my first theft target after doing a little bit of digging. Some popular Dust shop in the upper commercial district was having a grand reopening tomorrow and even went the extra mile to get some very high quality Dust from the Schnee corporation in order to attract customers. By tonight the shop should be restocked and locked up for the big event tomorrow. There were even balloons and a banner decorating the shop, it was almost a shame I needed to rob it.

Almost.

I even had a nice little plan set up. There wasn't much I could do to sneak in unnoticed the conventional way since the shop was situated around one of the busiest intersections in Vale, even at night, but I _could_ use my newfound cheaty abilities to simply appear to teleport into it. Hell, just in case the Dust was stored inside crates I checked to see if I could store crates full of stuff into my inventory, I had plenty just laying around me after all. And low and behold I could do it too, as long as it's the same crate type, is holding the same kind of stuff, and is not too big that I can't lift it. As long as I could bring it up to my inventory myself, I could store it.

 **[Quest created!]**

 **Grand Theft Dust!**

 **With your newfound resolve to dig deeper into the criminal underworld, you have decided the best starting point of your new career beyond pickpocketing is Dust robbery!**

 **Requirements to complete:**

 **-Successfully rob a Dust shop and steal any (or all) of the following: At least 3 crates worth of Dust, 6000 Lien**

 **Rewards: 5000 Lien, a new title, skill book "Summon Elemental", 1 large bag of assorted Dust crystals**

 **Failure: Imprisonment, unable to progress in the storyline**

 **[Physical Endurance has gained 1 level!]**

Make that level nine. I dismissed the skill level up notification and instead read through the new quest I received. Its rewards were mouthwatering, I didn't even care about the Lien or Dust, though the title sounded interesting, but that skill book was where the money is at. I'd have such a huge advantage over everyone else in this world. Hell, I could even try and convince certain people I was a Maiden, despite being a man, with them and they couldn't even prove me wrong when I'm blatantly doing things that look exactly like magic.

I wouldn't, naturally, as I did not need that kind of attention, but it was a funny thought nonetheless.

I quickly accepted the quest as I picked myself up from the ground of the empty dungeon I created and dusted my pants off, putting my mace back into my inventory. I pulled out my pistol and prepared myself for combat leveling, and I was going to level my Firearm Mastery this time. I wanted to make sure I was high enough in levels just in case there was going to be a surprise during the robbery. It was best to not get caught with my pants down.

One quick exiting and reentering of a dungeon later and I found myself back into the evil atmosphere of a Grimm infested dungeon. I have thankfully gotten used to the evil feeling of the place, being constantly subjected to the feeling has made me quite numb to it. After taking out a cigar and lighting it I walked right out of the warehouse and into the mostly empty streets. Pointing my pistol upwards I fired three shots to grab the attention of every Beowolf around me. Predictably, there were howls echoing through the streets, a small horde rounded a corner, roaring in anger when they spotted me and charged my location.

* * *

 **[You have gained 5 levels!]**

 **[Firearm Mastery has risen by 8 levels!]**

 **[You have learned the passive skill Unarmed Mastery!]**

 **[Unarmed Mastery has risen by 3 levels!]**

 **[Aura has risen by 2 levels!]**

I sighed and sat down on a bench in exhaustion the second I left the dungeon, I might have a gamer's body but I still get tired after a workout like that. And boy was it a workout, I was running around killing Beowolves nonstop for hours, a couple hundred _at least_. I should start looking at training in higher leveled dungeons at this point, the XP I was getting from the Beowolves wasn't enough to level me in a timely manner anymore. Once I get Melodic Cudgel I can get right on that, but I should check out the new title I got from killing all the Grimm.

 **[Grimm Slayer - Tier 2 title]**

 **Wow, you really like killing Grimm don't you? You are on your way to becoming a true Huntsman at this rate.**

 **-60% increase in damage vs Grimm**

 **-60% increase in defense vs Grimm**

 **-All stats plus 10 when fighting Grimm**

I grinned and equipped the new title for the hell of it, I'll be doing some more grinding after I get my new weapon tomorrow anyway. And the title has a tier system in it apparently, as this one was the obvious successor to the "Apprentice Grimm Slayer" title, it makes me wonder what the max tier is.

It had to be around ten at night right now so the store should be closed and empty, I was just glad my exhaustion goes away in like half an hour thanks to my ability, I was still ready to do this. So while waiting for the last of my exhaustion to leave me I opened up my stats menu.

" _Status,"_ I thought, the stats screen flashing into existence in front of my face. I dumped five more points into wisdom in order to get the base to a nice, flat thirty and give me a little bit of extra MP regeneration. The other twenty went into intelligence. I felt the power flood into me once I finished allocating my points, my MP bar getting larger.

 **[By raising INT over 50, you have gained the passive skill "Aura Affinity"!]**

 **[Aura Affinity (Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Aura is a fact of life and has served the needs of man since they first discovered how to utilize the very essence of their souls to survive in this cruel world. You in particular have shown to be especially good at it.**

 **-10% increase in MP recovery rate.**

 **-5% increase in total MP amount.**

 **-5% increase in aura attacks.**

 **-5% increase in aura defence.**

 **-30% increase in MP related skill effects.**

I chuckled to myself, a good increase in my stats and I can now learn those two skills I couldn't from before. I pulled the two books out of my inventory and after checking to make sure no one was around to see I tapped "yes" on the aura striking one. The book turned into golden pixel-like light and faded from view.

 **[You have learned the skill "Far Strike"]**

 **[Far Strike (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Hunters have long ago learnt how to use their aura to strike at foes just out of reach of melee range. But with modern technology making guns easier to use and don't require one to use their own aura for anything other than protection, this skill has begun to fall out of style.**

 **-Cost: 50 MP**

 **-Increased damage based on INT.**

 **-Increased damage based on more MP used than cost.**

 **-Can charge skill in weapon or hands before releasing for increased damage and higher critical chance.**

A really good skill if used correctly and leveled up nicely, and I bet if I can get it to a lower cost the overcharging with MP and holding the skill in for a set length of time will have a massive damage boost. To be honest it kinda reminds me of Adam Taurus's semblance. I shook my head and grabbed hold of the other skill, tapping on learn.

 **[Aura Mend (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

" **Battle prowess is great and all, but what happens if you're too injured to fight? Declare it a flesh wound and say you've had worse? Now be reasonable and stop screaming already, you're giving me a headache."**

 **Said the doctor to the patient.**

 **-Cost: 50 MP**

 **-Without Dust catalyst: Heals 50 HP, cures no status ailments.**

 **-With Dust catalyst: Heals 50 HP, Restores 50 MP, cures low status ailments.**

 **-Does** _ **not**_ **regrow lost limbs.**

 **-Some damage can only be reversed with this skill by so much.**

The book said it doesn't work without a Dust catalyst, is my ability modifying the skill to suit the gaming ability? I'm glad it does and all, but that's just weird. Being unable to not restore lost limbs or being unable to completely restore some damage deemed too large, but then again if I find myself in that kind of a position I'd probably be nearly dead anyway. I should look for a way to regrow limbs, but not yet as it isn't really an issue for me, I could literally sleep it off as it would be a status effect.

I closed the skill window for now, I'd work on grinding the skill later when I start with more "Physical Endurance" skill leveling. I stretched wide and felt my muscles loosen up, it seemed I was fully rested from my Grimm grinding now. Before I started to leave I pulled out my scroll and saw that I received a message from Marigold.

" _Hey, almost finished with your new toy. Come by the shop after noon tomorrow, it should be ready by then. -Marigold"_

I grinned in delight as I hopped off the bench and meandered my way across the city, I didn't have far to go since I planned my leveling to bring me to an area close by the Dust shop.

A few minutes later I found myself in an alleyway across the street from the shop, and giving the place a once-over from afar before deciding on when to go in. I just needed to make sure nobody was still inside. After a good ten minutes of just watching the store from the shadows I put my hand up and created an empty dungeon. Quickly exchanging my street clothes for a full black outfit, complete with a classic black ski mask that had forced me to adjust my glorious hair just to get it over my face.

Once I was certain I couldn't be identified with any sort of picture or video capture I used a quick far strike on the dungeon version of the store, shattering the windows. I simply strolled over the broken glass and made my way to the back storage door, easily kicking it down and entering the back room. I yanked a flashlight out of my inventory and left the dungeon.

The back room, as expected, was pitch black and I could not see a single thing. That wasn't a problem for me, thanks to modern technology. I flicked the flashlight on and used the light to scan the room before me, seeing a good number of large snowflake covered crates in the storage area. I walked over to the nearest crate and experimentally tried to lift it, key word being _tried_ , it was _really_ heavy and it made me realize I should invest some training into strength soon, I could barely move the damn thing. I stopped my strained lifting and huffed in annoyance.

 **[Thanks to your determined effort to lift heavier objects, your STR has risen by 1!]**

" _Thanks…"_ I thought to myself as I swiped the message away.

I set the flashlight on top of a nearby crate so that it illuminated the other crate I was going to experimentally look inside. Yanking a crowbar out of my inventory I stuck an end under the lid and pushed down, the top of the crate gave a loud cracking snap and burst up. I grabbed an edge and pushed the lid further up and peered inside, as luck may have it it seemed each crate was filled with smaller snowflake covered boxes. " _This makes things a little easier now,"_ I thought to myself.

I did a quick observe on one of the smaller boxes.

 **[Box of Assorted Dust - Quest Item]**

 **It's exactly what you think it is, a box of dust. How about you stop staring at it and start stealing? Chop chop!**

I rolled my eyes at the description of the Dust box, my ability has an odd sense of humor. I stuffed the crowbar back into my inventory and began the process of stuffing every box of Dust into my inventory. I managed to get about halfway through the first box before I heard footsteps. Swearing under my breath I grabbed my flashlight, turned it off, turned off my aura, and activated my Sneak skill before ducking behind some crates just as the door to the storage room unlocked and opened.

"Is someone there?" The new person asked the dark room, some sort of guard, as he scanned his own light around the room. The light stopped at the opened crate and he unholstered his pistol.

I almost snorted at the stupid question, only an idiot would've answered back. The guard slowly creeped into the room, closing the door behind him. It made sense to do so on some level, it cut off whoever was in there from leaving unnoticed. But on the other hand it also trapped him in with an unknown thief, and he didn't know what I could do. Not a smart move.

I silently used observe on the guard.

 **[Security Guard Lv18]**

 **A security guard hired by a Dust shop. While he is not as strong as an actual Huntsman, not having the combat skill required, he still has aura and is thus stronger than an ordinary civilian. He also has a name, but you don't really care about that do you?**

 **HP: 1134**

 **MP: 1082**

 **STR: (25) 32.5**

 **VIT: (18) 23.4**

 **DEX: (17) 22.1**

 **INT: (14) 18.2**

 **WIS: (8) 10.4**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Status: Active Aura**

 **Mood: On guard, suspicious, nervous**

Huh, maybe that was why he didn't have all that great of a plan of action, his intelligence and wisdom stats were pretty low. His luck looked about average but his strength was much higher than mine. I was glad my dexterity and vitality were higher than his, and I haven't even trained those stats yet. I can definitely take this guy no problem, but to be on the safe side I should just sneak attack him. In hindsight I should've started leveling my sneak skill, but no better time than the present.

The guard began his slow circling of the room, moving his light around ever so slowly. I was always moving and keeping behind cover, making sure he stays in sight so I don't end up surprised. I could hear the man audibly gulp and I doubted he was the bravest sort, which might be one of the reasons he couldn't make it as a hunter. After a good ten minutes and a few levels in sneak I found myself close behind the man, I brought up my mace that I took out of my inventory and slowly inched my way behind him.

Maybe he had heard something, or maybe it was just some instinctual aura thing, but he turned around the moment I launched my sneak attack. He shouted in surprise, firing his pistol at me. One of the bullets hit my HP directly before I activated my aura once again, hitting me in the side of the chest. I grunted in pain as I slammed my mace down at the guard, a full on power strike right into his chest. Thanks to the armor penetration I ended up doing a lot more damage than I thought, the guard's armor was cracked and his MP was down by half as he slammed into a wall.

But he wasn't completely down just yet, he rolled to the side just as my second attack came down onto the spot he occupied previously, demolishing the wall even further. He jumped back and tried to kick me in the head, I dodged around the kick and threw a haymaker into his jaw. The guard reeled back in pain and threw his own counter punch at me. We ended up trading blow after blow, blocking or dodging attacks, he seemed intent to not get caught by my mace again, as we seemed able to. The guard even tried to get a few sneaky potshots at me with his pistol every now and again, I had to commend him for that.

We broke off our dance of limbs and he jumped back to gain distance to fire his pistol at me once more. I was a little more ready for that and used my higher dexterity to deflect the projectiles to the side with my mace. I sent a quick and dirty Far Strike at him, catching him off guard in the face and making him stumble back in surprise. However, he only took an eighth of his total aura in damage from that, I haven't had a chance to level it up or charge it yet.

I used his stumbling around as a good enough distraction and whipped out my pistol from my inventory, I gave a few quick squeezes of the trigger. He managed to dodge a few, but was in obvious pain and was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of my shots. I didn't kill him, I didn't exactly need to anyway, he was just doing his job after all. The rounds from my own pistol struck him in the armor and a few non-vital areas, he grunted in pain as his MP dropped to zero and I watched as his aura shattered in a shimmer of sky blue. It looked pretty cool in person, to be honest.

He slammed back first into the wall as I calmly walked up to the down man and kicked his weapon away before he could reach for it.

"Damn, thief. You're just a cancer that's bringing society down the shithole," the man coughed out. I didn't respond and just slammed my foot into his face, knocking the man out. I stared at the unconscious body of the guard for a few seconds before shaking my head and returning to my stealing. He took a good bit of HP from his first shot and my MP was down by a third, I really needed to get some practice in on human combatants.

 **[You have gained 6,570 EXP!]**

 **[You have gained 1 level!]**

Right, I forgot, I was getting close to leveling when I finished grinding today, didn't expect the guard to even give me exp since I didn't kill him. Too bad he didn't drop any loot...

I went the extra mile during my robbery and took every crate full of Dust instead of the required three, it was extremely tedious work and my back felt like it was about to burst apart. Sure, I was a game character now but I can still get sore, it will just go away faster than a normal person if left alone and even quicker if I stretched. My inventory was filled with hundreds of the boxes of Schnee Dust and I could barely keep myself from dancing a little jig in place when I think of the money I can make from it all.

After stuffing the last of the smaller boxes into my inventory and doing some stretches to loosen my back up I charged a Far Strike into my hand and swung it down at the storage room's only door, right into its hinges. The door fell to the ground unceremoniously and I simply stepped over the fallen bit of wood. I made my way over to the cash register near the front door and used my crowbar to pry the thing open, there wasn't much in there, only a few hundred Lien, but it was something.

After destroying the register I looked around the shop's main room, most of it was filled with shelves of various containers of Dust. What use was a bag of Dust? I hadn't a clue honestly. One of the shelves had boxes full of Dust tubes, I remembered them as those storage things from the beginning of RWBY that held Dust in its powdered form. Shrugging to myself and deciding to hell with it, I wandered over to the boxes and ripped open a couple, yielding me with twelve, four in each box.

I could probably get a Dust usage skill if I practice using Dust enough, it might even increase the efficiency in my cane. And sure, I had plenty of Dust from the drops I get from killing the Beowolves, but what fun is it if I don't act like a thief?

I stuck a couple of the storage tubes under the bigger ones connected to the wall, watching them fill up and replacing one when it was finished. Soon enough I filled all twelve and stuck them into my inventory, I was finished here. Now, what's a grand heist without a bit of a dramatic exit?

I flung my arm at the shop's front wall and watched the windows explode out into the slightly busy street, and a gash cut across the unwindowed walls of the shop I was in and the buildings across the street. I kicked the front door down and slowly walked out into the open, civilians scrambling to back away in fear. I took a long and slow look at the crowd before simply jumping into the air and creating an empty dungeon to make it look like I teleported away.

I landed on one of the shorter buildings near the dungeon version of the Dust shop and took my time replacing my clothes with my street ones. Once I was back into my civilian attire a blue window flashed into view.

 **[Grand Theft Dust! - Quest Completed!]**

 **By engaging in truly unlawful conduct, you have finally dipped your toes into the life of true crime! Now, how about you go take those stolen goods of yours and sell them to some shady guy in an alleyway would you?**

 **Rewards: 5000 Lien, new title "Smooth Criminal",** **skill book "Summon Elemental", 1 large bag of assorted Dust crystals.**

I couldn't take out my new skill book and learn it fast enough. It was gone within seconds and knowledge of how to summon elementals was firmly etched into my brain. I was one more step closer to my goals, I just needed my weapon, somehow find Neo, a get a reputation good enough to attract Cinder and her merry band. But, that's all future me's problem, I was tired and needed to sleep until I picked my weapon up tomorrow at noon.

* * *

I walked into the weapons workshop, excited by the fact I'm finally going to get Melodic Cudgel.

The store looked exactly the same as it did before, minus the fact that Marigold wasn't manning the front. I rang the little bell on the shop counter and waited for him to come out of the back. Not even a minute later Marigold himself strolled out of the back room with Melodic Cudgel in his hands. He took his place behind the register and set the weapon down on the counter.

"Here you go, all done," he said, pride filled his voice. "She's a beauty all right, might be one of the best weapons I've ever made."

I couldn't help but agree, " _Observe!"_

 **[Melodic Cudgel - Unique]**

 **A powerful weapon made by Marigold, a weaponsmith in Vale. True to his word, his weapons really** _ **are**_ **some of the highest quality.**

 **Quality: Epic**

 **-Ranged damage increased by 250%.**

 **-Dexterity increased by 50%.**

 **-Blunt damage increased by 100%**

 **-Attack speed increased by 50%**

 **-Upgradeable (0/2)**

Holy shit… this is one hell of a weapon. I'm going to keep this equipped at all times for that dexterity boost too. I pulled out the rest of the Lien I owe the man and let him count it, watching as he nodded in satisfaction and gave me an owner's manual for the cane. I'll have to memorize that later. I fanned out an extra three hundred Lien and set on the counter.

"For a job _very_ well done," I said and saluted the man as he gave me a genuine smile at the gesture. I twirled the cane around a finger and strolled into the streets of Vale, I had some time to kill before going over to Junior's. Nightclubs don't open in the middle of the day.

I gotta say, I've just started my third day in this world and it's already been a hell of a ride.

* * *

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 21 (Next Level: 340/23,100)**

 **Title: Grimm Slayer**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 1,330**

 **MP: 1,970(1969.8)**

 **STR: 21 [Base 15 + 4.5(30%) + 1.5(10%)]**

 **VIT: 28 [Base 20 + 6(30%) + 2(10%)]**

 **DEX: 45.1 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%) + 2.2(10%) + 11(50%)]**

 **INT: 82.6 [Base 59 + 17.7(30%) + 5.9(10%)]**

 **WIS: 42 [Base 30 + 9(30%) + 3(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: None**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 8580**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 5**

I'd like to say that I started practicing with Melodic Cudgel right off the bat, but I didn't. The first things I needed to level up were my new summon elemental skill and Hunter's Meditation. I hadn't a chance to really work on the second skill as of yet, only bringing it up to level three since I had gotten it. Mostly because it required me to sit still for long periods of time and concentrate on maintaining the skill and I had things to do that required movement.

Once I left the weapons store I entered an empty dungeon and switched my clothes to the style I'll wear in the future, it really complimented my cane. I didn't really feel like moving to the warehouse at the time so I simply grabbed some chalk from my inventory and drew the summoning circle right in the middle of the street. Once that was done I took some powdered earth Dust and sprinkled it right in the center of the circle until it was a nice and neat pile. I stood back up and admired my handiwork, having the skill implanted into my brain really made this easy.

Once finished overlooking my summoning circle I gathered aura into my hand and slammed it on top of the circle, the summoning didn't require any special chant at first but it did require me to call out to which elemental I wanted to summon.

"Come, Earth Elemental!"

The Dust in the center of the summoning circle glowed bright, making me briefly shield my eyes from it. The Dust melted into the ground, the earth shaking and splintering before the ground itself started collecting into a ball of dirt and stone in the middle of the circle. The ball slowly grew in size, morphing and bulging into a vague shape of a human. The eye sockets of the humanoid were indentions in its skull, two pebbles acting as pupils.

" **I... Am... Here. What... Do… You… Require?"** I could hear its voice in my head, a slow, deep, gravelly, and methodical speech. I could tell that the earth elemental is not one to waste words.

"I'll begin in accordance to the ancient rituals. My real name is Roman Torchwick. You have heard my true name, please tell me yours," I stared into the pebbled eyes of the earth elemental.

The next instant I blacked out, only seeing a dim light in the center of my vision after a few seconds, a vague sight of the very land itself replaced the darkness. People, buildings, technology, it all meant nothing to the earth. It was eternal, never caring about the whims of the creatures that thrive on its surface. I felt my gaze turn to see a statue of stone standing in a street, cane in hand, it took a while for me to figure out is was actually myself.

My eyes widened as pain erupted throughout my entire body, I let out a long and very distressed groan of pain as every part of me felt like it was being ripped to shreds. As quick as it began the pain was gone completely and I felt the stone upon my skin shatter away.

I felt happy and pleasant, a smile washed over my face.

" **Name... Rumble. I... Rumble. Are… You… Roman… Torchwick?"**

"Yes, I am Roman Torchwick," I replied with a sad smile. I was not who I was anymore and I can't even return to who I was before all of this. Who was I even to begin with anyway? All that was left was this new name, a few vague memories, knowledge of The Gamer, and knowledge of the show RWBY.

The elemental seemed to stare at me questioningly, tilting its head in a way that didn't suit it, before its gaze locked into mine as a connection formed between us.

" **We are one, as the ancient contract decrees."**

"Our souls are one."

" **I am Rumble."**

"I am Roman Torchwick."

" **Until the soul meets its end-"**

"-We will be one forever," I finished.

As the end of the contract finished the elemental before me seemed to shimmer like water, taking on a newer appearance with much sharper details. Most notable, he looked like I would if I was a statue made of solid rock. The earth elemental slowly nodded its head at me, and I could feel that it was pleased to have finally been summoned once again.

" **I have awakened once more. Summon me whenever you wish, Roman Torchwick."**

The elemental crumbled into dust as it desummoned itself, and I fell down in exhaustion. It was high time I took a nap after that, I didn't think it would have been _that_ tiring…

 **[You have gained the elemental affinity Earth(10)!]**

* * *

 **[Summon Elemental has gained 4 levels!]**

 **[Hunter's Meditation has gained 4 levels!]**

Leveling these skills was slow work, but it seemed that summon elemental still gained exp even when Rumble was not fully manifested into the world. Meaning he could stay invisible twenty-four seven as long as I keep my aura off, and since the skill technically spends mana my aura skill will also level up at the same time. After some quick math using my scroll, I found that my MP regeneration was eighty-seven per minute. Summon elemental was a one hundred MP initial cost and an additional forty MP per minute, so I could keep Rumble summoned at all times and I didn't even need Hunter's Meditation to help.

This was good, I needed to get the per-minute cost down to the lowest at five per minute as soon as possible. The less wasted aura during battle, the better.

I stopped my meditation and pulled out my scroll to check the time, nine in the evening. Junior's should be open right about now, and I hope he'll help me. I stood up from my seated position and stretched, meditation is killer on your muscles even if you don't move at all. I cracked my neck and left the dungeon I created, I looked down the side of the building I was currently on and saw Junior's hired goons guarding the entrance.

Nodding to myself I stepped over the edge and landed nice and neat in a nearby alley, I didn't need his cannon fodder to think I was suspicious. Even if I was. Dusting my jacket off, I readjusted my awesome bowler hat and strolled right up to the club's front door with my cane clacking on the sidewalk.

"Gentlemen," I nodded to the two thugs.

They nodded back and let me through.

"Don't cause any trouble, the boss don't like trouble," the goon on the left warned.

I stopped just before going in and looked over at the man, "Don't worry about that, I'm here looking for business, not trouble."

With that said I finally walked through the doorway and into the club proper, already I didn't like the loud music and the mass of sweaty bodies grinding on each other, even if the music was tasteful for the venue. I pushed aside dancers as I looked for the bar, they didn't seem to even notice me passing through. The scenery of the club was, admittedly, kinda breathtaking. Junior does have good taste.

I finally got a look at the bar and made my way over while ignoring all of the ax and sword holding grunts giving me judging looks. I found Junior himself sitting at the bar, I didn't see any younger versions of Miltiades and Melanie which meant that they were a bit of a newer addition to the club. Or maybe they just weren't old enough.

There was a goon preparing a drink for the boss of the club as I sat down next to him.

"I'll have what he's having," I told the red and black colored goon, pointing to Junior.

The big, bearded man in question looked over at me, an eyebrow raised, "So, can I help you?"

I grinned and tipped my hat, "Roman Torchwick, soon to be big shot, at your service. I came here to do business, heard you knew things and wanted to know some of those things myself."

Junior grunted in acknowledgment as his employee slide two glasses of alcohol at us. He downed his in one go and asked, "It'll cost you. So, what do you want to know?"

"I just need to know where I can find a good…" I waved a hand around in a circle, "broker. I have some stuff I don't really need anymore, figured you would know someone trustworthy."

I downed my drink like he did, ignoring the poison resistance skill I gained from it. Junior seemed to consider my words as he searchingly looked me over. Finally, he seemed to stop his observation and replied back.

"And even if I did know someone like that, how would I know you aren't just some undercover cop trying to bust someone?"

I shrugged and figured I might as well let him know about the Dust store, "You know about that Dust shop that was about to have its grand reopening today? The one that had all that fancy Schnee Dust in storage?"

He narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded in confirmation, "Yeah… what about it? You're not saying that was you?"

I opened my inventory and dragged a single box out of it. "My semblance," I explained. He didn't seem to really care about that though, he was too busy examining the box and its contents as he opened the top flaps of the box.

Junior held up a single burn crystal and scrutinized it carefully, twirling it around to see it from every side. He grunted and set it back into the box, "That's Schnee Dust all right, I'd recognize this stuff anywhere. Very high quality too, the same stuff the store supposedly bought." He seemed to stare at the box for a solid couple of minutes, likely thinking things over. He nodded to himself after a while and turned back to me, "All right, I'll give you the name of a good broker of mine. A trustworthy man in this sort of business, and that's rare nowadays."

"How rare?" I couldn't help but ask.

Junior snorted, "At least eighty percent of the ones _I_ know of are slimy scumbags. You wouldn't want them anywhere near your money or merchandise."

Yeah, that didn't sound all that great. But if this guy is someone Junior recommends then he should be good, "How much do you want?"

"Ten boxes," was his immediate reply.

"One hell of a price to know one guy," I said, leaning on the bar counter.

"You'll make much more money as you go back to him for business than you lose right now. Win win for the both of us," he shrugged. "Plus, he's a good friend of mine and I need to make sure you're legit."

I mulled it over, I had plenty of boxes of the stuff to spare. Hundreds even since I stole every one of the crates contents, so it wasn't an issue of giving some over and losing out on a lot of Lien. But, I didn't want to waste more than I needed to, "How about you throw in a bit of a person search for me then? Shouldn't be too dangerous and I'll even hand over an extra two boxes as payment."

Junior crossed his arms and thought it over, chewing on his lip. After a while, he gave in and sighed in acceptance.

"Deal," he finally said and nodded at me. "Follow me to my office."

 **[Due to successfully talking your way to a better deal you have gained the skill "Bartering"!]**

 **[Bartering (Passive) EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Everyone can't get the best deals without any sort of effort on their part, what fun would that be? That's where bartering comes in! You can trade one thing you don't need for another thing you really need. It's the future!**

 **-When bartering for goods or services you have an extra 15% chance at getting the other party to accept your terms.**

 **[Due to your ability to persuade someone to see your side a little better you have gained the skill "Persuade"!]**

 **[Persuade (Passive) EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Talk, talk, talk. That's all you ever do and people are tired of it! At this point, they'll do whatever you say just to get you to shut up for a few damn minutes.**

 **-10% chance of convincing someone else over to your side.**

 **-Increased chance of choosing the correct thing to say when convincing others.**

Junior stood up from his seat at the bar and walked around the bar. I followed suit after dropping some Lien on the counter to pay for the drink, stuffing the box of Dust back into my inventory, and shooing the random skill gains away. We eventually entered through a small hidden door. The sound of the club faded to a small background noise and goons were more prevalent in this part of the club. I figured Junior definitely did a lot more than nightclub running and information brokering in this area of the building.

The journey to Junior's office took longer than I expected, the building itself was actually kinda big. Really the hallways and doors reminded me of an office building and I had to wonder if Junior bought out one and remodeled it into a nightclub. After walking through several hallways and taking a flight of stairs we finally we made our stop at a normal door at the end of a seemingly random hallway. The door simply had the words "Junior" on it in big black bold letters.

"This is it," Junior redundantly said and we entered his office.

The interior was nicer than its bland door would suggest, maybe a way to throw people off? A plush looking couch was nestled against a wall with a few pieces of artwork hung just above it, a few bookshelves lined the wall across from the couch and a small table by the door had some expensive liquors sitting on it. A rich mahogany desk sat in front of a blinded window with various expensive knick knacks and a holo-computer on it.

"Nice place you got here," I whistled in appreciation.

"Thanks, you can set the Dust by the couch while I get you the address of my broker."

I slowly began to unload the Dust from my inventory and place them into four neat stacks while Junior went over to his desk. In only a minute I was finished and walked over to Junior's desk just as he finished rummaging through one of his drawers. With a loud bump of wood the drawer closed and he handed two business cards over to me in between his fingers, one with just a number on it, "Just go to this address during the night shift and tell him Junior sent you. He'll know what kind of business you're working for then. The card with just a number is my scroll, you can add it to yours."

I graciously took the cards from him and discreetly stuck the one with the address into my inventory with a wave of my hand, Junior rolled his eyes at my "sleight of hand" display. I quickly put in Junior's scroll number into my own and handed his card back to him.

Junior slid a blank piece of paper and a pen over to me, "Just write down anything you know about this person of yours and I'll try and find him or her. And don't forget to put your scroll number down too, I don't want to run around this entire city trying to find you."

"Her," I stated and began writing down what I knew about Neo. Not much to be honest, I really only knew her physical description and the show never really went into any detail about her past. All we knew was that she had some sort of relationship with Roman if his concern for her drifting off the ship around the end of volume three was any indication.

I slid the paper back to Junior once I finished, he looked it over and sighed, "It's not much, so don't actually expect anything to come from it."

I shrugged and leaned on my cane, "It's worth a shot anyway. Even if you can't find her you can still keep the extra Dust."

Junior seemed to accept that and stuck a hand out, "Alright, pleasure doing business with you then, Roman."

I shook it, "Likewise, Junior."

* * *

 **[Quest Created!]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. []**

 **-?**

 **Rewards: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **Failure: Death.**

This was the quest I had received just after I left Junior's nightclub, and boy was my ability not messing around with me this time. The only thing that awaits me if I screw this thing up is death, and that makes me wonder just what the hell am I about to get into. I can't even decline the quest, the button is grayed out. I sighed to myself and tapped on yes, the quest phasing out of existence the second my finger left the button. At least the rewards look promising, that ungodly amount of EXP too.

I should prepare myself hardcore for this quest. Maybe even level up that Persuade skill, it might help me avoid any fights with huntsman level people. I still don't know the stats on a huntsman yet and I'd rather not find out when it's too late.

 **[By accepting the mandatory quest "One scoop, or two?" the beginner's phase of the game has been completed. You have been moved to the main questline and may truly begin advancing in your storyline.]**

Huh, didn't expect that. I swiped the screen away, it was quickly replaced by a much more ominous one.

 **[Due to finally leaving the beginners phase, the skill "Create Instant Dungeon" has been converted to "Find Instant Dungeon" and further training must be done in the real world. With your new skill you may still find rare spawning dungeons out in the world, these may contain very strong elite Grimm bosses and yield vast rewards at a significantly higher risk of death.]**

 **[EXP gains have been set to their normal amounts.]**

"No…" I muttered out loud, horrified and not even caring if anyone saw me and thought I was insane. "No no no! Go back! Go back!"

I was furiously punching the blue screen before me, it did nothing to help. I stopped my flailing and closed the window in anger. I slammed a fist into a nearby wall, grunting as I received forty damage to my health and cracked the wall.

"God damn it!" I stalked down the street, "Fucking game didn't even give me a fucking warning! How the hell was I supposed to know that?!"

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down, getting too angry will only make things worse somehow. I just need to adapt to this new headache and find a way to get stronger without the dungeons. I put my hands behind my back and stormed down the street, the bottom of my cane tapping against my heels as I made my way to the broker, thinking about how to level now.

If I recalled correctly, the Beowolves I was fighting gave anywhere from two hundred and seventy EXP to two hundred and ninety EXP, depending on their level. I spawned an Ursa dungeon before in order to find out what EXP they gave, took a while to kill one because of the bland weapons I was using, my lowish level, and that they were much tougher than they looked. That gave me about five hundred EXP.

On the other hand, defeating a single level eighteen guard at some Dust shop granted me over six _thousand_ EXP. Even if the EXP was now set to "normal" amounts, defeating other human should still give significantly more in return than Grimm. That means my only real source of EXP now was to either run off into Grimm infested lands and kill thousands of Grimm, or to find and fight other people.

Considering how easy and often the training hunters and full-fledged hunters kill Grimm and defeat other people, I had to wonder how high their levels were. If my ability was showing me levels alongside the hunters and using the same leveling system as I did, then to stop getting stronger quickly by killing a bunch of low leveled Grimm or defeating a bunch of people they would have to be pretty high. I really needed to find some Beacon students and a trained Huntsman to compare the levels.

The trip to the broker and the entire meeting with him was uneventful, really I just talked with him and unloaded the boxes of Dust into the large warehouse-office combination the place had going on. He was surprised by me casually pulling out a hundred boxes of the stuff out of apparent thin air, but I just vaguely answered him with an "It's my semblance.". He seemed to buy it at least and it avoided any awkward explanations, I didn't want a ton of people knowing about my skill. That would paint a real target on my back.

A target I didn't need since the place was a real hotspot for criminals to meet and gather. Imagine a large and chained supermarket, like Walmart, this place was a criminal equivalent to that. I saw guns, Dust, illegal goods, and even bombs up for sale. How this place had not been busted already was anyone's guess, I personally think Walter, the broker I spoke to and the big boss of this place paid off the police. Thanks to that damn special revelation I had after Junior's I figured I could make use of the fighting ring in this place, or look for actual work with someone and hope there would be fighting involved.

I could also start my own string of crimes, try and pick different places that were wealthy enough to have guards. My situation wasn't just a playful game anymore, not with my dungeons all but gone. I could even pick a fight with any police officer that comes after me, though I'd have to be careful with them for now. There was the case with the White Fang too, I heard from Walter that they were getting more aggressive in Vale and might start expanding soon.

Now they would make great training dummies, I'm pretty sure the average White Fang member was little more than cannon fodder.

Actually, now that I thought about it, why not all of the above? I need to make a name for myself quickly and very flamboyantly in order to attract the attention of certain people once they start with their plans. I should be the first on their list to choose from, like how Adam and his "force of revolution" was. Perhaps not in the "guns blazing" kind of flamboyant, but in the very recognizable way that can easily spread fear and uncertainty just by walking down the street. The kind they would love to have, that was kinda the kind of thing they needed to spread to get at the comatose Amber.

The Dust went for four hundred thousand Lien in total, taking out the cut for the broker I get around three hundred and sixty thousand. Plenty of money for the foreseeable future and just what I need to help set up my training regime. First I just needed to go and buy a ton of weights that I can attach to myself, I figured that if my body is a game character then I can do it with no consequences. It'll be a fast track on increasing my physical stats while I work on my summoning, that skill has already gone up by ten levels and I haven't even done anything with it yet.

I stepped out of the hive of scum and villainy and into the cool night air of Vale, taking out a cigar and lighting it. I had a lot of criminal planning to do, and a lot of various forms of training to get done. This will take a lot of extra work and I'll need to consult the help guide in the options menu now. I don't want any nasty surprises in the future.

 **[By making the wisest and most intelligent choice at your disposal, your WIS and INT have risen by five levels!]**

Oh, fuck off...

* * *

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 21 (Next Level: 340/23,100)**

 **Title: Grimm Slayer**

 **Bounty: 0 Lien**

 **HP: 1,330**

 **MP: 2,043 [1946 + 97.3(5%)]**

 **STR: 21 [Base 15 + 4.5(30%) + 1.5(10%)]**

 **VIT: 28 [Base 20 + 6(30%) + 2(10%)]**

 **DEX: 45.1 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%) + 2.2(10%) + 11(50%)]**

 **INT: 89.6 [Base 64 + 19.2(30%) + 6.4(10%)]**

 **WIS: 49 [Base 35 + 10.5(30%) + 3.5(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 368,580**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**

* * *

 _Omake (Canon)_

Cheers rang out through the gathered crowd surrounding the columns of police officers just graduating from the academy. The loudest being a family of blondes, only two of the nine there were male. Streamers and balloons decorated the stage, on which seated several very important figures in Vale. The council members that governed the kingdom, various influential politicians, and even the headmaster of Beacon itself, Professor Ozpin.

"I am proud to see you all graduate from your training, as it is _you_ who will keep the city of Vale safe from the forces that wish to destroy it from within. It is with pride and honor that I accept you all into Vale's police department. But none more so than our very own Valedictorian, and top of her combat class, Jeanette Arc!" The chief of police announced with a flourish of his arms, he was a graying man in his mid-fifties and in a snappy police dress uniform. He stood behind the podium in the middle of the stage and with a wave of his hand he motioned for a young blonde woman standing at the edge to come up to the stage.

The Chief opened up a velvet box and took out a single badge as Jeanette Arc marched up the stage. He pinned it to the young, eager woman who couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Do us proud and serve the people of this city well," The chief of police told her with a smile.

She saluted, "I will sir!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 6**

It's been a little over a month since I started my crime spree, and I have been extremely busy. Every single day I got the minimum eight hours of sleep thanks to my ability and filled out the rest of the day with something that needed to get done. Since aura and summon elemental were leveling even during my sleep, they ended up being the only skills that leveled twenty four seven. Summon elemental ended up at a skill level of fifty and finally hit the five MP per minute minimum.

Aura leveled to thirty-six, it just didn't go higher like "Summon Elemental" because of its slower growth rate, although when it hit level twenty-five it gained an extra effect. Now, it will also increase my total aura, or MP, count by twenty-five percent. If I'm correct, I'll get another bonus when it hits level fifty, and it'll be a fifty percent increase in aura instead of twenty-five.

There was a shooting range at Walter's criminal supermarket, the cost of using it was practically extortion but it let a criminal practice shooting in a safer environment. I used that place constantly, and while my firearm mastery passive might level faster in combat it still gained EXP while I practiced on dummies and targets. I leveled that skill to forty-six, and that skill along with my amazing cane let me do even more amazing damage at a distance. I'd shatter someone's aura in one hit unless they were high leveled or a huntsman.

Speaking of huntsmen, in my time doing crimes and leveling my skills I stalked a well-known cafe that was popular with Beacon students. Using observe on every high leveled student that came by told me what year of Beacon they were in and I began to categorize levels to year. First years looked to be in the high thirties to high forties, with some exceptional students even being in the fifties. Second years were in the fifties to sixties, third years were above the seventies. I couldn't give an exact measurement since I could only see fifty levels above myself, and I observed them before I started to increase my personal level. I can only imagine that an actual huntsman was in the mid one hundred range at the very least.

There was also this one thing I saw when I observed the Beacon students, they all seemed to have higher aura than what their intelligence stats would suggest. I did not know how this was possible as a lot of other people fell into what their stats suggested. As my observe skill started to slow down big time in the leveling department, I couldn't get an exact reason to why this was the case. My best guess was that the huntsmen and huntsmen-in-training had some modifier that increased their aura pool, their physical stats at least suggested some level of scalable normalcy even if a little bloated in some places.

Anyway, leveling my blunt weapon mastery and my new martial arts mastery was a tad slower as I couldn't just pepper a bunch of hard-light targets with Dust rounds over and over.

 **[Martial Arts Mastery Lv 21 EXP: 45.7%]**

 **The ancient art of using your body as the weapon is a common factor in martial arts, but your body is not the only thing you can use. "Martial Arts" can refer to any sort of actual combat style, like boxing for example. You can activate your known styles to instinctively know them at any time. Using them when in combat still requires experience. (Some styles can conflict with each other)**

 **-Passively increases martial arts attack speeds by 30%.**

 **-Passively increased martial arts attack power by 30%.**

 **-Can have up to (2) styles active at one time.**

 **Known Styles:**

 **-Bartitsu - Cane fighting (Active Style)**

The martial arts skill seems to get an extra one percent in speed and power beyond its ten percent base for every level, whether it goes past thirty percent in speed and power, only time and a level up will tell. My blunt weapon mastery went up to level thirty-seven and I found that it's extra attack damage increased by five percent each level and the attack speed increased by five percent every fifth level. I'm sitting at an extra one hundred and eighty percent increase in blunt damage and an extra forty percent increase in blunt weapon attack speed.

In the past month, I've also managed to level myself up about an extra fifteen times, up to a nice level of thirty-six and getting close to Beacon first years in terms of level. I still needed to figure out why they have slightly increased aura and how to give it to myself before I can truly consider myself their equals, even if I could beat them in a fight. This is partly because of the fighting ring, I managed to convince the ringmaster to let me do "endurance runs" for little pay for a few levels in my persuasion skill, I even made up the excuse to test my fighting skills.

Weapons were allowed in the ring, but no guns or sharp objects, I even let him check Melodic Cudgel before I stepped into the ring every time. And while you could keep fighting without aura if you wanted to, it wasn't recommended, people have died in this ring. This was how I grinded my martial arts and blunt mastery, and the extra EXP for my levels was nice.

I didn't neglect training my physical stats, I had several weights in my inventory and whenever I was not working missions, more on that in a bit, I had strapped weights to my body and went for a long run around Vale. I even mixed it up and jumped across and up buildings to level my dexterity, my strength leveled the fastest due to its lower number, followed by my vitality, and then my dexterity. It was grueling and long in paying off, but I felt that it was worth it. I might not necessarily need the strength and vitality, but it's good to be prepared. I used the skill points I gained to get my wisdom to a base of forty, my intelligence to a base of one hundred and one, and I used the rest on my dexterity.

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 36 (Next Level: 48,320/66,600)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 20,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,402**

 **MP: 4,178 [3,214 + 160.7(5%) + 803.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 42 [Base 30 + 9(30%) + 3(10%)]**

 **VIT: 60.2 [Base 43 + 12.9(30%) + 4.3(10%)]**

 **DEX: 159.9 [Base 78 + 11.7(15%) + 23.4(30%) + 7.8(10%) + 39(50%)]**

 **INT: 141.4 [Base 101 + 30.3(30%) + 10.110%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 0**

 **Lien: 2,423,690**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura**

I also received a few skills from my intelligence and dexterity reaching new heights.

 **[By having your dexterity reach the 50 milestone, you have been granted a bonus skill!]**

 **[Nimble Body Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]  
** **You worked hard to get as flexible as you are now, all those yoga classes have really paid off so far.**

 **-15% increase in dodge speed.  
-5% increase in attack speed.  
-10% increase in movement speed.**

 **[With your intelligence having reached the 100 INT milestone, you have been granted two bonus skills!]**

 **[Medium Aura Capacity Lv1 EXP:0.0%]  
** **Given to those born with the ability to handle aura more easily.**

 **-Aura based attacks are 15% stronger.  
** **-Uses 10% less MP for all abilities.**

 **[Mana Regeneration Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]  
There are people that have a special ability to recovery aura faster than others.**

 **-100% increased MP regeneration.**

But what I found out in the help section of my options menu made me feel really stupid. It threw my whole plans of just leveling and stealing when I needed the cash right out the window. I could form my own "guild", and hire people into my employ. They would join my so-called guild and I could do missions with them to earn money and a good amount of EXP. Most of it was stealing, but sometimes there were a few that other criminals that needed some extra muscle beyond their own and offered money to other criminals to help them out.

The missions didn't grant me much in the way of extra money, usually just enough to pay the cut each one of my underlings gets for each mission they do. I tend just sell anything I got, only keeping enough Dust and ammo in my warehouse to keep my grunts well armed.

This was the source of most of my experience thanks to the EXP nerf my ability gave me when fighting other people or Grimm. If the guard from the store was any indication, a level eighteen person gives me around six hundred and fifty EXP. Most of the fighting ring combatants were around that level, and while it was a good way to level my hand-to-hand and melee skills it wasn't good for straight up leveling at a certain point. It doesn't happen every day too, only a few times a week and sometimes other people don't always want to enter the ring. I've had to supplement the downtime from fighting in the ring to wacking on trees or anything I could get my hands on.

I can also not create parties, lovely. My ability says this is because this is not an "MMORPG" game. I call bullshit.

I guess it saves me the trouble of explaining my ability to others, not like I could prove anything beyond a spatial storage and weird but not too unbelievable powers now anyway. Semblances are odd things, and I have seen some weird semblances amongst the criminals.

But yeah, my guild has been growing steadily. I'm sitting at thirty grunts under my employ right now, I even bought out the rather large warehouse I first woke up in through Walter. He is a jack of all trades kind of guy and I can see why he is so popular, being able to launder money into an account in another kingdom and use it to buy property through shadow companies was great.

When I bought out that warehouse I had my grunts start putting it back together again. The main office was converted into my personal quarters, as is my right as the boss, and the many rooms connected to the side of the building were turned into the living area for my underlings. Soon enough the warehouse was livable and can be decorated to my whims.

I even got a new title from reaching thirty subordinates.

 **[Up and Coming Kingpin - Tier 1 title]**

 **A special title for a criminal beginning to spread his or her influence in the criminal underworld. This person already has a few underlings that do his or her bidding and is starting to gain notoriety.**

 **-Guild membership limit increased by 15**

 **-When completing a guild mission with your minions, gain an extra 50% EXP from the mission.**

 **-When working with your minions, your minions gain an extra 15% in damage.**

I had long since switched my Grimm Slayer title for this new one, I wasn't going to be killing Grimm anytime soon and the extra membership, EXP, and minion damage was far better for my situation. The great thing about my own guild is that I can make my own missions. I can't set what kind of rewards it gives me, that is determined by how difficult my ability judges the mission I made, but I can have my minions run around and gather information about potential targets for me. If they are successful in finding something useful then I get experience in my level, if not then they return empty handed and I get nothing.

I have a target for a mission right now actually, some posh and snooty jewelry store in the rich part of Vale that I marked on my map of Vale. For some reason, such an easy mission was labeled as difficult, and the EXP rewarded from it would level me up again. As I sat at the table in front of the map and stared at the piece of paper while I waited for my grunts to finish preparation I lifted a cigar, stuck it into my mouth, and lit it. Taking a long and deep drag from it I contemplated on the fact that this big smoking habit of mine would be a bad one for anyone else, but for me and my overpowered Gamer's Body, it did absolutely nothing. Not even a status debuff.

"Hey, boss, we finished preppin' up the van," Jerry, one of my favorite grunts, spoke up.

I pulled myself up from my seat and tapped my cigar over the ashtray, "Finally, let's get this show on the road."

 **[You have started a Guild Mission!]**

 **Successfully rob the jewelry store and do not get arrested.**

 **Rewards: 20,000 EXP, 10,000 Lien, increased respect within the criminal underworld.**

 **Failure: Imprisonment, decreased respect within the criminal underworld.**

I made my way to the main storage section of the warehouse as I accepted the mission, a small section in the front of the warehouse was cleared out to make room for the van. I got closer to the van as the large warehouse doors were being slowly opened by a few of my underlings, all wearing a nice and neat black suit to counter my own. I left the choice of shirts, ties, and other accessories to their own discretion as long as they also wore gloves to hide fingerprints. A few of my grunts were milling around the back of the vehicle, waiting for me to arrive.

"Alrighty then," I announced, easily grabbing the attention of everyone around me. "Let's make this a nice and easy job tonight. Fancy jewels come with quick police response, so how about we not waste time." I turned to the henchman I followed here, "Jerry, I want you and the others to prepare to sort out the goods for sale, I don't want to hold onto these things for long if I can help it."

Jerry saluted, "Aye aye sir!"

I jumped into the back of the van and took my seat near the driver and said, "Let's get a move on!"

The henchmen nearest the back door swung it closed just as the inconspicuous van drove off into the streets of Vale. The ride to the jewelry store was filled with jokes and conversation between the grunts, we had the time and silence wasn't required for this part of the job. I couldn't help but admire the roads and building of Vale as we drove towards the rich part of town, the city had really marvelous architecture.

Conversation dulled down as we neared the store, the driver of the van did his job and came to a stop just past the alleyway behind the store. He backed up the van quickly and drove it backward so that it was hidden between the buildings and gave him a good view of the street.

The back doors of the van were opened and we poured out, I pointed to my men with a cigar holding hand, "Keep watch back here, I'm going to open up this back door."

I stuck the tobacco in my mouth and yanked a small rectangle device out of my inventory and flipped it on, the display screen lit up and I held it up against the back door's security panel. I bought this nifty device for a nice little price, it was supposed to unlock password protected security panels by holding it over them, like a scroll lock mechanism. Even if it didn't work we could just blow the door down and nab as much as we could before the police showed up.

The little box beeped twice to let me know it as done and I gently pulled the door open, no alarms seemed to have been set off.

"Seems the thing worked," I muttered, shrugging and sticking it back into my inventory. "Alright, set the bags up nice and quickly and don't smash anything yet. We don't want the alarms to go off before we're ready to leave. And you two," I pointed at two random henchmen as everyone else went to work, "Go look for the keys to the display cases if you guys can't find any just tell everyone to smash and grab."

The grunts each grabbed a bag and went around setting them up on the counters. I stood in the middle of the shop and watched them run around, getting everything set up. I eventually got bored of watching them do their thing and walked to the back office as one of the grunts I sent to look for keys returned empty handed and told the others to just smash, I heard the sound of breaking glass as I entered the back room. Setting my cane against a desk I rummaged through the papers, I might find where the safe is and the code to get into it.

During my search, I heard a yelp of surprise and a loud thump following it. I sighed and picked up my cane by its shaft and walked out into the main store.

"Just what is going on here?! I thought I said to keep-" A gun pointing to my head from behind interrupted me.

"Freeze, you are under arrest criminal!" A young woman's voice shouted.

I sighed melodramatically, "And just _who_ are you?"

I heard metal clicking around, she must be fumbling with her handcuffs, amateur, "Who I am doesn't matter, now put your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent."

I moved my hands ever so slowly downwards, a small burn crystal dropping from my left hand to land on the floor between us. "What the-" was her first reaction before the crystal exploded into flames from being overloaded with my aura. Thankfully it was small and didn't do a lot of damage, only meant for a distraction.

I ducked under the gun just as it fired off a round, swinging Melodic Cudgel up to slam home into the officer's chin with a power strike, catching her off guard. She crashed into the wall, almost going through it.

I finally got a good look at her as a few of my henchmen were regaining their bearings, my eyes widened when I saw what floated above her head.

"Hey! Anyone who can move grab someone and a bag and load up the van, we're leaving soon! I'll keep the lady entertained."

"Right boss!" a few of my underlings replied, at least these guys were tougher than the average mooks. But they wouldn't hold a candle to the woman before us.

"I think not, criminal!" the policewoman shouted as she pried herself off the wall.

 **The True and the Just**

 **Lv 62 Jeanette Arc**

" _An Arc, huh. I don't have to be a psychic to know she must be one of Jaune's sisters,"_ I thought to myself. " _Observe!"_

 **Name: Jeanette Arc**

 **Job: Police Woman**

 **Level: 62**

 **Title: The True and the Just**

 **Age: 18**

 **HP: 4700**

 **MP:** **12,530**

 **STR: 96 [60 + 36(60%)]**

 **VIT: 160 [100 + 60(60%)]**

 **DEX: 48 [30 + 18(60%)]**

 **INT: 48 [30 + 18(60%)]**

 **WIS: 40 [25 + 15(60%)]**

 **LUK: 85**

 **Status: Active Aura, Arc Bloodline (+200% total MP)**

 **Mood: Angry, wants justice.**

 **A young and spirit filled woman, it's been her dream to be a police officer and help the people of her home city. Sure, she could have done it as a huntsman, but all of her other sisters were already doing that. So as soon as she finished up at Signal she applied for the police academy the second she turned eighteen, graduating at the top of her class. She is a firm believer that strength overcomes any odds against her.**

What the fuck was with those stats?! That vitality and strength is freaking insane, and let's not forget about that luck. And that arc bloodline thing is unbalanced, it triples her MP for god's sake! And once again her intelligence doesn't even add up to her MP. My only saving grace is that my dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom are much higher than hers. But this'll be a tough and drawn-out fight if I let her set the pace, I don't have time for that. No wonder this mission was a high difficulty…

 **[You are entering a Boss Battle!]**

 **You can't run from a Boss battle, they'll just chase you down anyway. The requirements to defeat each boss encountered will be given just before the real battle starts.**

 **Requirements for current Boss:**

 **Survive for three minutes while your underlings gather your unconscious henchmen and the loot.**

" _Joy,"_ I sarcastically thought.

Jeanette unsheathed a baton from her waist and charged me, I dodged around her strike easily thanks to my dexterity and slammed my powered strike enhanced cane into the back of her knee. She grunted and fell onto her knee, but swung her baton at me anyway, I deflected it to the side and felt how much more power she had than me. I'm glad I wasn't dumb enough to try and match it directly.

Jeanette recovered from the knee strike and launched herself up, kicking off the ceiling to slam an ax kick down at my head. Leaping to the side, I hooked my cane around her arm as she came down and spun around, flinging her over my recovering henchmen and at the store's front window. I immediately brought up Melodic Cudgel, using my forearm to make a stable aiming platform, and fired several shots at the flying woman. She brought up her baton to try and bat away the explosive bullets, but the force of my weapon's ammunition and Jeanette own force of impact made the metal grate over the windows bend and break, shattering the windows and letting the young woman continued her flight path back.

The officer ended up outside the store and came to a sliding stop on her back on the other side of the street. It didn't faze her as much as I hoped it would've, her aura compensating well for the blow and barely down a sixth since we started this fight. Well, considering her immense aura pool I'd say I did well in that regard since I didn't dish out a whole lot of attacks myself.

I stepped over the broken window and took my cigar out of my mouth, "Well well well, blondie. You're tougher than you look, so I'll ask again. Who are you?" I dropped the burnt up cigar to the ground and walked further into the street.

Well, I already knew who she was but that's because of my gamer ability.

She got into a defensive stance, clearly knowing she was outmatched in terms of close quarters. I might have a lower level, aura, vitality and strength score than her, but that didn't mean a single thing if she couldn't actually hit me. It's all about dexterity, if I can dodge around you and whittle you down without being touched, I win by default. Some more strength would always help in melee though, no point risking my life by taking too long to beat someone. Plus, while I might not have graduated from a fancy place like Signal Academy, I have plenty of combat experience from the constant ring fighting. I doubted she had any aside from the safe fights in school and the police academy.

"My name is Jeanette Arc, and it's my duty to the city to bring you in for justice. I know who you are, Roman Torchwick, you've been busy gaining the police's attention recently." She replied, narrowing her eyes and firing a few shots of her pistol at me. Seems she really didn't want to waste any time talking, but I did. Just had a little under two minutes left.

I casually deflected each bullet with Melodic Cudgel as I appraised the young woman before me.

"Your duty hmm? Seems like too big a responsibility for a kid like you, how about you turn back now and save yourself the humiliation. Let the real adults work here," I taunted, twirling my cane around my hand when the bullets stopped.

She growled and gritted her teeth, reloading her gun. Seems I touched a nerve.

"Oh?" I tapped a finger to my chin, leaning forward on my cane and squinting my eyes dramatically.

"What?!" She nearly shouted.

"Maybe the adults _are_ trying to get you to stop getting in their way, maybe they gave you some unimportant duty in hopes to get you to stop bothering them? Like patrolling the rich district of Vale, a place where there isn't nearly as much crime as the other districts? A fitting place for a kid like you to snoop around and not bother anyone." Just a minute more.

"I managed to find _you_ ," she retorted.

I tapped my cane on the ground and made a big of a show acknowledging her truth, "True. But do you know why they don't want a kid like you to work the big cases?"

"Indulge me, criminal," Jeanette spat out readying her weapons once more.

I mockingly pointed my cane at her, "You, are just a silly little girl who just didn't see the big picture in front of her." Honestly, I'm just spouting a bunch of bullshit to waste time. I, quite frankly, have no idea what I'm talking about.

And with that, the timer ticked down to zero and I used Rumble's abilities to suddenly make the very ground below her swallow her up to her neck. She was caught off guard from that and started struggling to get out of the earth. Already there was cracking forming on her makeshift prison, a henchman came running up behind me.

"Boss, we got everything ready to go!"

"Right, let's get out of here, I can already hear sirens," with that I sprinted to the back of the jewelry store with my goon and we shoved ourselves into the back of the van. I tapped on the van with Melodic Cudgel, "Get a move on!"

The van sped out of the alleyway and down the street and with one loud boom of displaced earth later, I could hear the war cry of Jeanette Arc as she rounded the street corner and fired her pistol at us. Most just embedded into the van's back door, the gun didn't have the stopping power to pierce it from this distance. I opened the back door of the van and just before we got too far out of sight I mockingly saluted the woman.

Style, I gotta have it.

 **[You have completed a Guild Mission!]**

 **Rewards: 20,000EXP, 10,000 Lien, increased respect within the criminal underworld.**

 **[You have gained a level!]**

* * *

 **(A/N) I'll be taking a small break to plan the rest of the Neo arc out a little more and rest my fingers.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 37 (Next Level: 1,720/70,300)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 28,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,402**

 **MP: 4,178 [3,214 + 160.7(5%) + 803.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 42 [Base 30 + 9(30%) + 3(10%)]**

 **VIT: 60.2 [Base 43 + 12.9(30%) + 4.3(10%)]**

 **DEX: 159.9 [Base 78 + 11.7(15%) + 23.4(30%) + 7.8(10%) + 39(50%)]**

 **INT: 141.4 [Base 101 + 30.3(30%) + 10.110%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 2,423,690**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**

* * *

 _Omake (Canon)_

We parked the van inside the warehouse so we didn't attract unwanted attention, as soon as we left the vehicle the other grunts that didn't go on the mission started unloading the cargo. I waved the ones that followed me and got beat up away so they can go rest up, that blonde chick really did a number on them with her crazy strength. Reminded me of what Yang would be like in a few years.

I was just peachy and decided to relax while my henchmen did all the hard work, and right as I sat on a random box my scroll went off. Shrugging, I pulled the device out of my pocket and checked the caller ID. It was Junior, I felt excited.

I answered the scroll, "Hey, Junior! How's the wife and kids?"

" _Cut the crap Roman, I found something you might want to hear, or not depending on how sane you actually are. Cost me an arm and a leg to get this info too, so you better be damn well grateful,"_ came the cheerful voice of Junior on the other end of the call.

"Yeesh, what's got you so worked up over?"

" _Just come by my club tomorrow night, you'll understand then,"_ he replied.

"Fine, fine! I didn't have anything planned anyway. I'll be there," with that the pleasantries were over and we both hung up. I stared at my scroll for a bit, once again wondering just what the hell was I about to get into.

 **[Quest Updated]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. [X]**

 **-Go to Junior's club at the time he tells you to. []**

 **Rewards: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **Failure: Death.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 7**

Everything stolen from the store was promptly sorted and sold off as quickly as I could contact Walter. I made a tidy sum total of around one hundred grand, it was a medium sized store so there was a fair number of jewelry there, not the best haul all considered but not the worst. After a quick eight hour sleep I began my usual routine of donning a disguise, I actually got a skill when I first did that, and doing some hardcore running and parkouring around the industrial district with weights on. Since my scroll didn't go off, it seems my lackeys haven't gotten into any trouble since I left.

After spending the better part of the morning and a bit of the afternoon, I went back to my hideout and spent the rest of the day stabbing a knife repeatedly into my leg until I almost depleted my aura pool and healing myself with Aura Mend. Because if I depleted my aura then I'd get a thirty second debuff that prevents aura regeneration, also that cool static effect around my body. It was orange, like my hair, in case you were wondering.

 **[Aura Mend has risen 1 level!]**

It finally hit that level mark I have been aiming for for a while now, the damn skill levels slowly and chews through Dust crystals like there's no tomorrow. I've taken to only using a Dust crystal when I really needed the MP and supplementing everything else through meditation, just to save myself the money. As it is now at level twenty, the skill will restore nine hundred and fifty health and aura when using a crystal. It has potential to be overpowered as hell if I had infinite Dust, as just using the skill once will restore any aura I initially used.

So, I made sure to keep a ton of Dust crystals sitting in my inventory at all times. Just in case.

Once night started to hit I decided that today's skill grinding had come to an end. I have a quest I needed to continue with and Junior's club should be open right about now. After a quick shower I strolled out of my living quarters and into the main warehouse, tapping my cane on the ground as I walked. Every one of my men went into a form of attention when they spotted me, some even stopping what they were doing with a box in their arms.

I strolled into the middle of the warehouse and pretended to think something over. "Alright, you there," I suddenly said, pointing to a random henchman, who jumped upon being selected, "You doing anything super important right now?"

He looked confused and looked over to a buddy of his, "Uh, no sir?"

I pointed at him again, "Wrong answer, but I'll let it slide for now. You are going to be my driver, I need to go to Junior's. You know where that is right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, boss."

"Wonderful! Let's go," I didn't give him any time to argue as I walked over to my van and took my place in its passenger side. I should think about investing in a nice car that's only used for light travel like this, a van used for thievery getaways isn't exactly the best car to be using to travel around with. But beggar's can't be choosers so I had to suck it up.

The henchman scrambled to the driver's side, another tossing him the keys as he neared the driver's side.

Once we left the warehouse the ride to the club was silent, neither of us having anything to talk about and me being far too busy thinking about what Junior could've found to make him react like that. We've had some on and off connection this past month, mostly when I needed some extra information about a place I was going to rob that my goons just couldn't get. Other times was kinda just social, he had a really good selection of alcohol at his bar. I, or anyone really, didn't know the extent of Roman's relationship with Junior in the series, but I guess it doesn't really matter now. I can make my own.

I had a few scenarios running through my head, maybe Neo was part of some secret assassin guild. Maybe she was a part of some other big crime lord's gang and I needed to knock the guy down and take his place. Maybe she was a mercenary with a really bad track record and Junior just wanted to make sure I don't recruit cancer. Blasphemous, that last thought, Neo was best girl and nothing could ever change that. Sorry Weiss.

The van came to a stop in front of the entrance to the club and I let myself out, "Park 'round the side and wait, this shouldn't take too long."

The goon nodded his affirmation and drove around to the parking spaces next to the club once I shut the door to the van. Cracking my neck I walked through the front doors, giving Junior's men a nod. I've become a regular enough sight that they nodded back and didn't give me the stink eye, they knew I wasn't trouble. The inside of the club was exactly as I remembered it, sweaty bodies and all. I pushed past all of the party goers and went straight to the bar, hoping to find Junior sitting there.

As luck would have it he was the one tending the bar, doing the typical bartender action of drying a glass with a towel. I knew he spotted me when he set his glass down and waved for one of his goons to take his place. Once I got close enough Junior waved me forward, likely wanting to talk when there wasn't extremely loud music blocking our voices. I followed him through the door behind the bar and he lead us to a small break room.

I took a seat at the small table in the room, propped my cane against the table, and waited for Junior.

Junior sighed and pinched his nose, "Look, Roman. I'm going to say this flat out before I tell you anything." He took a deep breath, "In my own personal opinion, I think you should stop trying to find this woman entirely."

Now he had my attention, I rose an eyebrow and replied, "I take it you formed this opinion of yours when you obtained some distressing news?"

Junior snorted and took a seat across from me, "Distressing is one way to put it. I didn't lose any contacts or men when I went searching for this mystery woman of yours, thank Oum,-"

" _Huh, that's a thing here…"_

"-but one of them had a close call. And it's where you will find the woman."

I leaned forward with my chin resting on my interlocked hands and said, "And where is that?"

"Vacuo. Specifically, around the south-eastern part of Vacuo near some of the outlying villages," Junior replied. "You could probably take a boat to Vacuo's docks and rent a car to drive to one of the villages, despite the desert and harsh weather they have roads that are maintained enough to drive on."

"I see… any clue to why she would be in that sort of backwater, so to speak, part of Remnant?" I honestly needed to know, I wasn't expecting to have to travel to the desert boonies. Though desert travel wouldn't be much of a problem for me, my inventory can store food that won't spoil and water bottles that won't ever lose their original stored temperature. I have the best survival toolkit on me at all times.

Junior pointed an index finger to me, a serious glare resting on his face, "That brings us to why I think you should drop this. Apparently, from a few survivors of the attacks that recognized your girl's description, she is a part of a roaming band of bandits."

I blinked, taken aback, "Bandits?"

The man nodded and dropped his hand back to the table, "Yeah, ever since they got some new leader they've been more of a problem for edge towns. The places where hunters can't reach in time to stop them or any Grimm that come from all the negativity." He sighed and rubbed his nose, "They are _bad_ news, Roman, even amongst criminals and far too dangerous for my taste. If they consider you weak in _any_ way, they will try and kill you. That's their motto, ' _The weak die, the strong live'_. They accept nothing less than the strong."

I frowned as I took this in, Neo was a part of Raven's band of merry men right now, not a good sign for me. I don't like bandits all that much, even if that's just the gamer in me that's annoyed having to fight them constantly. It be be odd that a criminal like me finds criminals like bandits to be distasteful, but a bandit is a criminal thug, all brute strength and only good in numbers. And while they might need to be like this, as they attack villages, I, as a thief, am a professional that uses grace, intellect, and yes, a little bit of force every now and then, to get what I wanted.

I couldn't fight Raven directly, that much was painfully clear. I might have made several strides in increasing my abilities, levels, and stats since I started out a month ago, but I was far from an actual trained and professional huntress. And I was not so arrogant as to assume I was such. But what was it that Taiyang said about Raven during his spar with Yang in volume four? That she thinks the best way to beat a problem is to go through it? That strength was all that matters in a fight?

Well, then I guess it's a good thing my build is intelligence and dexterity. I'll just shape things to fit _my_ needs and play by _my_ rules. Not hers.

I hummed and tapped my chin in contemplation, "So, south-eastern Vacuo then?"

Junior reeled back in shock, "Wait, you're _actually_ thinking about going aren't you?"

I laughed briefly at his remark, delightfully slapping the table with a hand, "Junior, I'm not thinking about going, I'm already making plans."

He rubbed his face, "Fine then, don't say I didn't warn you. I think you're crazy and will definitely die, but I'll at least try and lessen the chance."

I tipped my hat, "You're such a wonderful friend Junior, keep this up and I'll start thinking you actually like me."

Junior snorted, "Not a chance." He pulled out his scroll and tapped a few times on the screen, I felt my scroll buzz. "There, I just sent you the last known camping location of the bandit tribe. I recommend you try and find this girl of yours before the next six months, unless the Grimm decided to hold them up they should be leaving right about then."

"Not a clue to where their next destination would be?" The quest update screen appeared in my vision, but I mostly ignored it to pay attention to Junior.

Junior shook his head, "No, it's usually random. Although they never seem to go to Menagerie or Atlas."

"Why's that?"

He shrugged, "Besides the fact that Atlas would happily crush them beneath their boots, it's mostly snow up there, not very comfortable to roam around in. Menagerie is basically unlivable for most of the island, the main settlement takes up almost all of the habitable areas. Probably don't want to try and brave it's desert."

I nodded and pushed myself up, "Fair enough. Well, thanks for the info, Junior. It has been a pleasure doing business with you, but I think it's time I used this new information. I have things to plan and do."

We shook hands and Junior said, "Yeah, whatever. If you die, just don't come back to haunt me. I don't want to have to see your ugly mug every day."

* * *

 **[Quest Updated]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **It seems Junior has pulled through for you and presented you with the location of this partner you so desperately want. It's too bad she's stuck with a bunch of brutish bandits, isn't it?**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. [X]**

 **-Go to Junior's club at the time he tells you to. [X]**

 **-Find your way to the last known location of the bandits. []**

 **-?**

 **Rewards: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **Failure: Death.**

The ride back to the warehouse was quick and without complications, once we were parked I stepped out and let my men do whatever is they do in between jobs. I needed to make a plan to get to the bandit tribe before the six months were up, but what should I do?

The first obvious thing I needed was to make a base of operations in Vacuo. Since I already had a shadow shipping company that Walter created for me, I could use that to buy out parking space at Vacuo's docks. And on that note I should also get a small ship for travel between the kingdoms, I'd go for air travel but that'd be a little too expensive for long distance travel right now. I doubt a single bullhead, mounted guns or not, would make it far into Grimm territory. I just hope we don't encounter any sea Grimm like the one Sun and Blake fought. Best to get a ship with guns, just in case.

As for where my men and I will work, we could just sleep and work on the ship. Hopefully, we won't be in Vacuo for long, but I shouldn't jinx the quest just yet. Right now I needed to actually get to Vacuo, thus I'll make a call and find out how much a boat was.

I paced in front of my map of Vale I had set up over a table, scroll at my ear and largely ignoring my wandering henchmen in the warehouse's background. The scroll clicked through and I heard Walter answer.

" _Roman, my friend, how may I help ya? Got anything else to sell? And so soon?"_

I clicked my tongue as I made another pass past the map, "Not tonight Walter, I'm looking to find something to buy."

" _Hmm, what are ya looking for kid?"_

I stopped and stared at the industrial district on the map, "How much would a boat good enough to travel between here and Vacuo cost? Something that a shipping company would own, but nothing too large."

" _Looking to get into the smuggling business now, eh kid?"_

"Something like that, more like I just need to find someone and want to travel on my own terms," I replied.

" _I see…"_ I heard some shuffling around and quick typing, " _Well, I do have something I could get for ya. Cost ya a pretty Lien too, around three point two million to be exact. But it's between a small and a medium-sized ship, got two front guns for any Grimm that try and eat ya, and has a bit of storage space for anything ya want moved."_

"Good condition?"

" _Great condition, got enough on ya to buy it?"_

I frowned at the price and bit my lip, I only had around two million on me right now, "Not yet. Mind keeping it on hold for the time being? I can get the money to pay for it in full."

I heard a sigh over the scroll, " _I can hold it for ya for a month at max, and I'm only doin' it for ya cause I like ya! Don't expect me to keep babying ya all the time, items like these are popular and I don't want no grief from other criminals by showing favoritism."_

A month to get three point two million Lien, I can do it in less time but I should aim for extra to have some fallback cash on. I nodded, "Alright. I can get you the money in a month, just keep it nice and pretty for me."

" _I'll shine her twice a day, kid. If that's all ya need?"_

"Yeah, thanks, Walter," with that I pulled my scroll from my head and we disconnected the call. I had the transportation set up, now I just had to hatch a plan to deal with these bandits. Raven would be the biggest threat by far, not counting whoever they had on their side that did all the damage to that village they attacked in volume four.

She was fiercely loyal to her "family", skewed as her perceptions are. So whatever she did, she did it for them and their best interests. I tapped my cane on the floor in thought, what if I made it seem like _I_ was in their best interests? Offer them something that they can't deny to be useful, something I'll never bother to give them of course, but then I only needed to be there for a few months at max.

That solves the problem of how to get in, it's getting Neo to join my side and get out that therein lies the problem. I know nothing about Neo and her situation, she could be as loyal as Raven is to the tribe, as much as I doubt that, for all I know. Hell, she could be happily prancing around and stabbing as much as her heart desires, not a care in the world. She was a strong character, she should be thriving in the bandit culture.

The best plan I had to bring her into the fold was to basically wing it. I knew nothing and won't get anything more than what Junior could get, at the very least not in any reasonable time frame in any rate.

As for leaving the bandits, assuming I'm leaving with Neo and not dead as my quest would suggest if I don't succeed. I actually had a slightly better idea than just winging it, a distraction. Several distractions, really. If what Junior told me was correct, then the Grimm were able to hold the bandits back from leaving anytime soon, and I could use that to my advantage. I just needed to draw them to the camp and let the bandits fight them off while Neo and I make our grand escape.

A little optimistic for a plan, sure, but I like to think it leaves room for some creative adjustment.

The question was how to draw the Grimm in, they are only attracted to large increases in negativity. Something that the bandits no doubt, and everyone else in the world, were fully aware of. That means I needed to make the negativity myself, I needed to make the bandits feel angry and fearful and other negative emotions. I needed the negativity to spread like a wildfire.

Wait a minute… _fire._

" _That's it!"_ I thought to myself as I grinned maliciously. I just came up with a brilliant idea to distract the tribe.

When I finish with my next guild mission I'm heading straight for Walter's, to sell off the things I acquired and to see if he has any books about bomb making, specifically firebombs. Those will be my main source of negativity generation, but it'll take a while to set them up properly inside the camp without getting caught. This will end up being a long term mission that'll just skirt the edge of the mission complete time, I can already tell. I'll even have to make a remote for them so they don't go off prematurely. Hell, the firebombs will make an excellent distraction all on their own, the Grimm would be the icing on the cake. Not like anyone would miss the bandits, even if I highly doubt I'd kill them off with this.

Would I gain plenty of enemies? Most certainly.

Would I make an enemy of a very powerful, bitchy, portal making huntress? Yup, but this is a risk I needed to make.

I just need to make an invisibility skill or, failing that, I might need to train my stealth and get some acting skills. Literally. They'll even help me sell what I'd be trying to sell to get in with the tribe anyway.

As this is remnant, I can safely guess that all bombs run on Dust. I'm going to make a lot of them, as I don't know how big the bandit camp even is, I should start stocking up on Dust. Which I was going to focus on stealing the most, good money and practice for the future and all. The stuff was a very important commodity in this world, and if you can control it then you can control others. Something I gave some applauding respect to the Schnee corporation towards, say what you want about him but Weiss's father really knew how to control a market. It was even more obvious when you actually live on Remnant now.

Everything ran on Dust, even sea ships. That being said, there was actually a surprisingly low amount of criminals that stole the stuff in large quantities.

"Maybe they didn't want the heat," I mused quietly to myself as I pulled out a cigar and scanned my map to see which stores and places I needed to steal from. I looked over my shoulder and called out, "Hey Jerry!"

Said henchman came quickly running up to me, "Yeah, boss?"

I turned around to face him and jerked my head to indicate the other henchmen, "Take some men and look for any big shipments of Dust coming to Vale. Also, look into finding a bigger van, preferably a moving one without any identifying markers. We're going to start hitting some bigger targets and we'll need the space to store any stolen goods. We don't have bullheads just yet."

He nodded and went off to complete his orders, he was starting to become my favorite goon in my little group. I took a drag from my cigar and decided to stop contemplating why other criminals didn't want to steal Dust for profit.

It was going to be their loss anyway, and I intend to capitalize on it.

* * *

 **(A/N) Mildly short chapter, but it's just a setup anyway.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 37 (Next Level: 1,720/70,300)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 28,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,402**

 **MP: 4,178 [3,214 + 160.7(5%) + 803.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 42 [Base 30 + 9(30%) + 3(10%)]**

 **VIT: 60.2 [Base 43 + 12.9(30%) + 4.3(10%)]**

 **DEX: 159.9 [Base 78 + 11.7(15%) + 23.4(30%) + 7.8(10%) + 39(50%)]**

 **INT: 141.4 [Base 101 + 30.3(30%) + 10.110%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 2,523,690**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 8**

Most of the next day went by quickly in preparation of a much bigger heist that I had planned. Jerry returned to the warehouse with a large mover's van he purchased with some money I gave him, I spent a while looking over the van to make sure it fit what I needed. It seemed my favorite goon did good, we now had a much better vehicle we can use to store stolen goods. The other van is now going to be used to transport men alongside the bigger vehicle, I suppose this means I can field more men on heists and not have to worry about cramped conditions.

Of course, while my henchmen went about the day getting ready I decided to visit Walter's place in the afternoon to see if there were any books about bomb-making he had lying around. The van my henchman and I were driving came to a squeaking stop in front of the entrance, I stepped out of the vehicle and my driver sped off to find a place to park. I fixed my scarf, strolled right up to the metal door of the warehouse without a care, and used my cane to knock five times. Three rapidly, two in long succession.

The door clicked open and some generic thug let me through, I didn't pay him much mind as he closed the door behind me and looked over the warehouse. Various types of criminals walked around the building, even at this time of day, business never stops in the underworld. After the tenth worker walked down the aisles of boxes and large containers of whatever I stopped staring at the multitude of colorful people and instead focused my attention at the red haired secretary-like woman seated at her desk near the door.

I leaned a hand on the well-kept desk and winked flirtatiously, "Hello again gorgeous, I'm looking for something specific."

She smirked and rested her chin on a hand, "Everyone is, handsome, but what specifically are you looking for?"

"A book or two on firebomb-making, nothing much," I stated, tapping my cane on my leg in no specific pattern.

She didn't spare me another look as she went business-like and focused her attention on her holo screen, after some typing, she replied, "It seems we have some in stock, it'll cost you four hundred Lien for one."

"Yeesh, take my kidneys too, why don't you. I'll take it," I said, sighing dramatically. The lady did whatever she usually does with her computer, in all the time I've spent coming and going from this criminal wonderland I never bothered to learn much about it. Other than that you don't normally bother Walter to purchase small things like explosives, guns, or ammunition. He always handles the big stuff like personally greeting new customers for the first time, buying sea ships, airships, or laundering large amounts of money. Buying a book about bomb making? Small stuff, let his assistant handle that or else he'd smack you with his golf club set.

It didn't take long for the book to be brought up to where we were waiting, and as soon as the thug set it down on the desk I pulled out four hundred Lien and let the assistant count it. She gave me a nod and a flirtatious smile, I smirked and grabbed the book, winking back a farewell. Once back out in the street I yanked out my scroll and texted my driver to come around to the front. While waiting I decided to pull up the book.

 **[You have picked up some blueprints! Would you like to add them to your recipe list?]**

I tapped yes and watched the book flare up briefly with light and I instantly knew exactly what was inside the book, just like I would have if I had learned a skill book.

" _Skills,"_ I thought. My skill screen popped up and I tapped on the craft skill.

 **[Craft (Active) Lv28 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **The people of Remnant would have died out to the Grimm long ago if they couldn't make anything. So honor your ancestors by honing your ability to make something out of seemingly useless stuff!**

 **Crafted objects become better in quality as mastery rises.**

 **Known blueprints: (3)**

 **-Dirt Doll**

 **-Basic Firebomb**

 **-Basic Bomb**

 **Chance to fail when crafting - 15%**

I leveled the craft skill up every time I went out to train my stat points. I shamelessly ripped off of Han Jee-Han and used my earth elemental to summon earth to my hand and use my craft skill to make it into a doll. It took a while to level it up to a respectable level for how long I've actually trained with it. I should see if I can make something like those mana crystals he created, from what I could gather he could use them to give himself some extra mana in a pinch as well as use them to make magic items. I wasn't interested in the magic items as much, though I can only assume they would be irrefutably useful.

I wanted the crystals so I can use them to give myself aura in case I ever had my aura knocked down to zero. If I can get enough then I could use Aura Mend to give myself even more and get rid of the debuff that comes with a shattered aura. It was the ultimate hax, and I need to get me as much hax as I could to make certain I don't die to this quest.

I experimentally placed my hand on the ground, concentrating my aura around my hand and used Rumble to bring up dirt from below the concrete, " _Craft!"_

An orange glow erupted from under my placed hand and I could feel a little bit of something push my skin back. I moved my hand away from the ground and saw a tiny blue crystal sitting there, I used observe to see what it said.

 **[A new blueprint has been created and added to your recipe list!]**

 **[Roman Torchwick's Artificial Aura Save Stone]**

 **A small, artificial magical stone created by Roman Torchwick that contains a very small amount of aura. It can be used as a material to create magical products alongside restoring a paltry amount of aura.**

 **Restores 20 MP on use.**

Just like in the original comic, minus some changes in the description then. Not bad, I'll just keep on spamming these all day until I can make even larger ones. I picked the stone up just as I heard a honk and my van stopped in front of me. I nodded to my henchman as he unlocked the door.

"Let's head back to the warehouse, we've got things to do," I said as I climbed into the passenger's seat. Just as my henchman pushed down on the gas and we started down the road, as I thought about the upcoming heist I decided to make some more of these aura save stones in case I might need them later. It's always good to be prepared for anything.

* * *

Later that night my henchmen and I drove towards our next mission, the engine of our van growled as both of my vehicles came to a turn towards a warehouse on the opposite side of the district. I had been meaning to hit this place for a while now, but I lacked the necessary mobile storage to move large amounts of merchandise. The headlights flicked off and the two vans came to a stop a bit away from the warehouse's main door.

The place we were about to hit was supposedly where the White Fang store supplies, as they have been taking more drastic turns lately most of it was Dust. This place is also supposed to be relatively unguarded, as Junior said they were trying to stay on the down low. The police might be mostly bought off for the big time criminals, but the White Fang was fair game for everyone. They've been an annoyance to everyone over the past few months even before I arrived, stealing things, burning things that don't belong to them and that they can't steal. Killing, destroying, you get the picture.

Just a bunch of mongrels, the lot.

I've slowly been reading up on what they've done in this world, news channels, the internet, newspapers, everything that told the world just what the White Fang has been doing. It sickened me, none of it even comes close to truly helping faunus-kind. Don't get me wrong, I don't actually care about faunus, I have enough on my plate as it is to worry about some poor, random, in desperate need of aid, people I'll never meet. Once the novelty of seeing humans with actual animals traits wore off, all I was left with was the single notion that they were people just like I was.

And that makes what the White Fang was doing all the worse, in my opinion, all it does is remind me of current events in my old world. So I just could not help but see them as the animals they were being. It was that alone that made me glad Blake eventually sees the organization for what it actually was, rotten to the core and completely against what her father was trying to accomplish. She was still my third least liked character in the show, behind Cinder and Raven, but at least she still had that going for her to ease my dislike.

I shook my head of these unimportant thoughts and focused on the task at hand, "Let's go, everyone, we're burning nighttime. The Fang aren't going to rob themselves if they did it'd be the only useful thing they'd contribute to society."

My men chuckled and readied their weapons as we made our way to the warehouse. There were no lights on in or around the building, makes sense since the faunus had night vision and didn't have a massive presence here. I'd figure there were ten guards here tops, most likely less. My men and I slid up to some stacked boxes under a window and I turned to them and whispered, "Go up to the front and wait for the signal."

They nodded and I jumped up to the top box under the window, I tested the window to see if it budged. I sighed in gratitude when it opened and slid the window up, carefully pulling myself through the opening. Once most of my body was through the window I let myself drop, falling onto my awaiting hands and using them to spring myself back to my feet in a crouched position.

" _That felt awesome to do, like I was a master martial artist or something,"_ I silently mused to myself as I looked around the dark room, my eyes slowly adjusting to the lack of light. It was no faunus level of night vision, but I've safely maneuvered around a dark room with legos strewn about the floor before. Compared to that minefield, walking around static boxes and crates in a dark warehouse is child's play.

" _I should get a detect life spell, just like in the elder scrolls games, it would really come in handy right about now."_ Ignoring my thoughts I snuck around the warehouse looking for any White Fang, I hadn't seen any of the animals yet.

 **[Sneak has gone up by 1 level!]**

I tapped away my very helpful notification, no sarcasm there, it would seem there is someone around here and close enough to register my sneak skill to gain EXP. I noticed a light on the floor and I peeked around the crate I was sneaking behind, and I spotted the White Fang that was stationed to guard this place lounging around a table. Two older men and one younger, red-haired guy, probably no more than sixteen to eighteen, wearing a mask that looked a little familiar. They were a tad too far for their nametags to appear over their heads, I needed to get closer. A Dust powered lamp placed in the center of the table was the only source of light in the immediate area.

"I'm just saying, even though this is a boring job kid, it's a pretty sweet gig. Almost nothing happens around here, easy money, easy job, and still doing a service to the Fang! I mean, I'm not a fighter so really this is the best I can honestly do." The older White Fang member on the right said, I had no idea what they were talking about as I just joined the conversation.

"I don't want some easy job, I want justice for us Faunus." The young man stood up during that sentence as he got passionate and slammed a fist on the table, "I can't do that sitting in some dusty warehouse while our brothers and sisters lay down their lives every day for equality! This is a ridiculous job that they're pushing off to someone as young as I am," the red haired guy crossed his arms in annoyance and slumped back into his seat.

The other older member didn't say anything and just continued to drink a beer.

The member the younger man was talking to sighed, "Kid look, I get that you want to run off and fight humans. They're scum, I know. But you're kinda young and reckless right now, you gotta get stronger so that some run of the mill hunter doesn't off you in the first raid or mission you do. I've seen what you can do kid, you are very strong there is no doubt about that but the higher ups might be testing your patience with this. Can't have some snot nosed brat just rushing off blindly during a mission to kill humans right? Give it some time and I'm sure they'll be putting you somewhere better."

The young man scowled down at the table and sighed in frustration, "You're probably right. Still, don't like it."

The other guy snorted, "I can understand that." He looked over at the third guy and slammed a fist lightly into the table, "Gary, you really shouldn't drink during the job. What if something happens tonight?"

"Ain't nothing gonna happen, shit's been quiet for weeks," Gary mumbled back, bringing his can back for another drink.

I've grown bored of listening to these guys, I doubt I'd get any actual information from them. I pulled Melodic Cudgel up and aimed it at Gary as his beer reached his mouth. The first shot rocketed out from my weapon and struck the guy in the back of the seat, as his flying body destroyed the table the beer went sailing out of his hands and smacked the face of his buddy as he flew into a stack of crates.

 **[Sneak attack!]**

 **[Critical hit!]**

The response from the others was immediate, the young man grabbed a katana from… somewhere and the older guy, still dripping wet with beer, had pulled out a generic machine gun. I didn't wait for them to get any more ready and sprinted out of my hiding place, firing a few shots from my cane at the gun-toting goon. Stealth was a nonfactor now.

The older guy, Barry was the name I got from his nametag, barely managed to jump back from the concrete shattering blasts of my weapon but tripped over a piece of the destroyed table. Not a fighter indeed. The younger guy was _significantly_ better, and it really bloody showed. He swiped a few times at me, chaining the strikes to leave as little room as possible for counter strikes. I was pushed back and forced to only deflect the attacks, sparks flying across my cane.

He clearly favored skill over just brawn, a fact that had me impressed despite myself.

We jumped back from each other in order to reevaluate our opponent.

I glanced up at the guy's name tag floating above his head and internally cringed. I really wanted to repeatedly smash my face into a wall, hell I could do it now and he would probably let me. The reason was the name in the floating text and the level he was at.

 **The Animal**

 **Lv41 Adam Taurus**

" _So what is 'The Animal' a prelude to 'The Beast' or something? He and Blake are supposed to be based off 'The Beauty and the Beast' after all,"_ I mused to myself as I tried to ignore the overwhelming urge to swear profoundly. I've met three major RWBY characters so far, if Blake just so happens to show up tonight I might just snap and kill someone.

I don't want to meet canon characters just yet, leave me alone universe! God damn...

The older guy finally got back from his trip, groaning as he shook himself and aimed his weapon at me. There was no shouting or telling me to stand down, he just pulled the trigger and unleashed bullet hell down on me. I flashed my cane in front of my body, the classy weapon easily deflecting the bullets away.

Adam decided to capitalize on my distraction, sheathing his katana and rushing forth. I suppose he didn't have Wilt and Blush just yet, or maybe it was being repaired or made and he had to make due with a simple katana. Adam growled and yanked his sword out in a classic iaido move, I ducked under the quick slash and could've sworn it shaved off a bit of the feather on my hat. The older White Fang grunt stopped firing in fear of hitting Adam, I was fine with that and used the reprieve to hook the handle of my cane under Adam's shirt and slam him into the ground while he was still retracting his blade.

Adam bounced up from the ground and I kicked him into the other man, who was forced to catch him with his entire body, knocking them to the ground and not being able to fire at me anymore.

" _Seems he is really tough even five years earlier,"_ I thought to myself.

I used observe on him, the skill long since been given the ability to show me a light backstory.

 **[Observe has risen to level 50!]**

" _Guess his strength makes sense, it seems like he's sixteen and apparently spent a while in the Fang so he has some experience fighting. Glad to have an age on the guy. Kinda hoping he isn't calling Blake 'My Love' just yet, that'd be creepy since she's twelve and all."_

But anyway, that single level of Observe opened up a significant amount of information beyond a small backstory, the window had an entire section dedicated to the person's skills and what level they were at. Adam's stats were above what a level forty-one would suggest, and since he focuses on a combination of vitality, strength, and dexterity his intelligence and wisdom was low and therefore his aura shouldn't be as high as it looked. I was glad my dexterity was still higher than his, seems he spent more on raw strength. A bad choice, his sword style needs more speed, maybe he'll realize that later.

But when I looked at his skills I noticed aura had this bronze band around the skill icon and a little bronze star above it.

 **[Extra information in the help guide has been unlocked!]**

" _I'll have to look into that later then,"_ I thought as I heard the warehouse's large doors open up. Moonlight shone through the gap of the doors and I twirled my cane around my hand as my henchmen surrounded us. One of which went to tie up the White Fang member lying unconscious in the pile of broken crates.

"Well, gentlemen, this warehouse now belongs to me. I'd appreciate your cooperation if you just let us take everything and we'll be on our way," I stopped twirling my weapon and rested my cane on my shoulder as I tried the diplomatic approach.

"Filthy humans, like hell we'll just let you take the Fang's supplies that help its righteous cause! Instead, how about I put you all six feet under," Adam growled out as he got back to his feet with his hand hovering over the handle of his sword, he was a tenacious one I'll give him that. A tad _bullheaded_ though...

Get it? Eh?

I tsked, "You don't really have a choice, but how about this," I raised a finger and pointed it at him, "If you can defeat me, then we'll walk right out that big door and you'll never see us again!"

He gripped his sword tightly and charged me, bellowing, "You won't be leaving this place alive anyway, human scum!"

 **[Boss Battle has begun!]**

 **In order to defeat this boss you must either:**

 **Kill Adam Taurus.**

 **Knock Adam Taurus unconscious.**

 **or**

 **Adam Taurus runs from the battle.**

As much as I'd like to, I probably shouldn't kill Adam. Blake might not leave the White Fang if I do.

He used a classic iaido strike as his opening. I used the momentum from his charge to swat his sword to the side and spun around his body while ignoring the sight of my minions taking the other guy out and preparing to tie him up. Adam surprised me by stopping short and kicking behind himself, and since my cane was a bit off to the side I was forced to block with a forearm, it took off three hundred MP. I chuckled as I slide back from the force, "Going back to your roots, eh?"

"Fuck you, human," was his elegant retort alongside another swipe of his sword. I leaned back and let the red blade pass by my neck, swiftly jabbing a power strike enhanced smack of Melodic Cudgel into his sword wrist and swatting the back of his head with a simple slap. His sword fell out of his hand as he reeled forward in surprise from the slap. It might not have done any damage beyond one to his aura and was definitely a wasted shot, but it felt good.

"Watch your language around your elders," I smirked.

His glare could melt steel beams and I could feel it through his mask. With his other hand, Adam grabbed his sword before it hit the ground, turning the motion into another attack. I didn't even have to smack it away this time and just leaned to the side, swinging my fist at his head.

Adam took me by surprise when instead of dodging to blocking he took the hit directly with his sword, I took some damage from the edge of the blade hitting my fist. I narrowed my eyes and assumed he is trying to ready his semblance. I discreetly took a Dust crystal from my inventory and topped off my aura with an Aura Mend just in case.

I ducked under another horizontal swipe, stepped to the side to avoid a vertical by the skin of my teeth and fired Melodic Cudgel at his feet. He swore as he was launched back and tumbled into a back handed spring as he resheathed his sword, the show-off. I followed suite with a few more shots of my cane and grimaced when he blocked and deflected them all with his weapon. I needed to be careful around his semblance now.

He shot forward to re-engage, I obliged. We met sword to cane as went jumped from place to place, kicking off stacks of crates or just trying to hit each other really hard on the ground. During our little dance, I came to the conclusion that I'm an idiot for not creating the bind spell yet, Adam is really skilled even at his younger age. While my base dexterity is still just a tad higher than his, and all my extra increases to it makes it even higher than that, his skill with iaido more than makes up for it. While I was not feeling in any particular danger, it does mean that I need to work harder than before.

While Aura Mend makes me nearly impossible to kill, as long as I had Dust and a spare amount of aura, as I could just give myself more aura and health it runs the risk of me becoming lax. Every hit from Adam hurts my aura by a minimum of five hundred, with small variations here and there. I have used quite a bit of Dust so far, but it's worth it so far for my own personal combat experience with someone as strong as Adam. Perhaps I should start looking for strong people to fight with, it would be good experience in both regards. With one final clash of our weapons, Adam and I jumped apart to catch our breaths. He had less than half his aura remaining while I was at full, Aura Mend is cheaty to all hell.

I smirked, feeling a tad trolly. I started swinging my arms wildly in front of me, not seeming to do anything. Adam readied himself as I started but as nothing seemed to happen he looked at me confused, "What are you-"

"Give it a second," I interrupted.

Nothing still happened.

I saw Adam grit his teeth before he jumped into the air with his sword at the ready, "Take this seriously!"

I smirked and turned my flailing arms upwards at Adam, this time using each swing alongside Far Strike. The attacks might not be charged, but I was using double the MP than needed. The skill itself is around level fifteen and only costs twenty-five MP now, that plus my intelligence makes it much stronger than when I first got it.

Several waves of aura shot into the air like a glowing barrage of artillery. Adam widened his eyes, or at least I'd like to think so, and grunted as he raised his sword to block the attacks. I aimed indiscriminately but made sure to use less powerful attacks around where his sword was. I whittled his aura down to barely an eighth with this barrage of Far Strike and even gained a level of it in the process.

I jumped back as Adam finally neared, him swinging his sword down at my head from its resheathed position. I pulled out a few Dust crystals and once more topped my aura off with them plus Aura Mend. I managed to drain half my aura during that attack. Adam sheathed his katana and I knew things were about to get serious. I did not want to be on the receiving end of that attack now.

Adam rushed forwards, arm in position for one final attack. He likely knew he did not have much aura left to spare. I did not want to give him the satisfaction of using his semblance on me, I jumped back and fired my cane at him once again wishing I created the bind skill. Adam dodged around the shots and neared, I felt my back against a few crates and snarled in annoyance. I was trapped and Adam knew it, I tried one last attempt to lean back and avoid the blow.

He seemed to glow as he unsheathed his blade and swung it forward, the world seemed to turn black and red as I felt the blade start to dig into my stomach. I grunted in pain as my aura was ripped to shreds, the orange of my aura sizzling out around my body and the blade of Adam cutting right through my body. Despite the extraordinarily hot and sharp pain of a sword slicing through my flesh, I could only think about my wonderful suit being ruined. Thankfully the paiin of being sliced open like that was gone nearly instantly. And at the very least I took the attack at my full aura levels, it still did like one and a half thousand damage to my health, but I was still alive.

 **[Aura has risen by 2 levels!]**

As I slammed through the crates I opened my inventory and yanked out one of the many small aura save stones I made earlier today whilst I prepared for the mission. It restored just enough to let me use Aura Mend and I crushed it in my grip, the glow of aura surrounding my body once again. I quickly pulled out a Dust crystal and used Aura Mend, filling my aura up enough that I was no longer in danger.

With my aura restored I shoved the debris off of me and stood back up, cracking my neck. My moving around seemed to have made enough noise as Adam seemed to have stopped in his tracks a little ways off in his quest to off my henchmen. Jerking around in surprise as he took me in and his mouth was opened in shock if this wasn't a little serious I'd be tempted to pull out my scroll and take a picture. Instead, I pulled a few more crystals out and restored my aura and health.

"How are you alive?! I shattered your aura and cut open your stomach! You don't even have blood on you!" He yelled.

" _Thank you, Gamer's Body, you are amazing,"_ I thought. I smirked at Adam and twirled my cane around my hand, it has become a bad habit of mine, "Silly animal, I _can't_ die. See, I already have my aura back." I emphasized by pulling a spare knife off my belt and stabbing my chest, it bounced off my aura. I put it away and stalked forward, "But _you_ , _you_ can die. That attack hurt you know, it's time I returned the favor."

I was milking this for sure, but I didn't care. It was too much fun.

Adam took a step back and his hand shot to his sword, his arm shaking very slightly. I was surprised, according to observe he seemed to be genuinely scared right now. Then again, if I saw someone survive a wound like that that I gave them with no blood and no damage to show for it beyond some cut up clothes… I'd be scared too.

Every step I took forward he took another back, gritting his teeth every time. Finally, he made a decision.

"The White Fang council _will_ know of this, human. I'll make sure of that. This is not the last you'll see of me," and with that cliche 'I'll kill you later' line he shot from his spot on the ground and bolted out of the warehouse. I didn't bother stopping him or give chase and instead pulled out a cigar and lit it.

I took a drag from the cancer stick and let out the smoke, "Yeah, I'm already well aware of that, Adam."

 **[You have defeated the boss and gained 50,000EXP!]**

 **[Your faction relation with the 'White Fang' has changed from hostile to hated.]**

 **[You have gained the skill book 'Iaido'!]**

* * *

 **(A/N) This was fun to write.**

 **Edit(To Guest, other guy had a PM): Aura is a TOGGLE skill, which is why (In chapter 1) it is both a Passive and Active skill. Thus, when Roman's status says 'Inactive Aura', it means that he does not have it on at the moment. This does not equate to a LOCKED aura, which would mean that person has not yet had their aura unlocked and ready for combat use. The status sheet just below this A/N has 'Inactive Aura' as a placeholder for a status that changes at will.**

 **He's been using his aura this entire story thus far, how can he not have it unlocked?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 37 (Next Level: 51,720/70,300)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 28,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,402**

 **MP: 4,178 [3,214 + 160.7(5%) + 803.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 42 [Base 30 + 9(30%) + 3(10%)]**

 **VIT: 60.2 [Base 43 + 12.9(30%) + 4.3(10%)]**

 **DEX: 159.9 [Base 78 + 11.7(15%) + 23.4(30%) + 7.8(10%) + 39(50%)]**

 **INT: 141.4 [Base 101 + 30.3(30%) + 10.110%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 2,523,690**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N) Sorry for the delay, spent the past few days studying for a final exam on Tuesday. Then when it was done I felt a tad worn, that'd be why this chapter is a bit shorter than I'd like.**

 **To Guest: Read the bottom A/N of chapter 8, I'm NOT explaining what 'inactive aura' means again.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 9**

I dismissed the EXP gain window and the faction relation change window, acknowledged the extra window that appeared after those were closed, and immediately absorbed the skill book.

 **[The martial style 'Iaido' has been added to your 'Martial Arts' style list.]**

Neato, I don't actually own a sword so that skill is kinda useless to me, but whatever it might come in handy in the future. Now to see what random skill I've gained.

 **[Deceive (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Lying about what you can or cannot do, or do and do not have, or do and do not know, could be useful in the future. Deceiving someone can also be used for misdirection. Just don't dig a hole so big you can't crawl out of, ok?**

 **When deceiving someone, adds a 30% increase to success chance.**

"This'll come in handy, I'm positive on that," I muttered to myself. Hell, judging by how well bluffing worked on Adam I could do the same to others and it would have an even bigger chance of working. As long as I can make it look like I can back it up of course, I doubt anyone would believe me if I said I could send an army at them.

I whistled to myself and walked to the large warehouse doors, fingering the large tear in my once fabulous suit. I'm going to have to send someone to get this thing repaired, luckily I have some spares in my inventory. But I'll change later, looking like I can survive a wound like this with no effort might be good for my men's morale.

Once the doors came into full view I saw my henchmen quickly moving boxes with snowflakes on them into the large van's storage. Good, I can already see the Lien roll in and at this rate if things go according to plan I can have the Lien needed in a week, two tops. I doubt I'd find another warehouse full like this that would also be easy to break into, but maybe I could try robbing Dust while it's on its way into the city.

I'll have to look into that later, I don't really have time to waste planning and executing large projects like that. I'll need bullheads and other large transportation vehicles if I want to do that, for now I'll simply rob stores until I'm ready. I'm thinkin' of that place on fifth in the commercial district, not as high quality as you'll find in the upper district but the stores are typically bigger and have a lot more Dust, they cater to the large amounts of low to middle class people. Sometimes quantity has its own quality.

A henchman looked over at me and jumped, "Woah, boss. You alright? That's one hell of a cut."

I sat on a crate and watched the other mooks run back and forth, "I'm fine, just hurry up with the Dust. With that big door open, we're not being discreet here."

He nodded and with a quick apology he hurried back to work after I waved him off with a hand. I took off my hat and examined it, turns out Adam _did_ manage to lop off part of the feather that was stuck in the red band. I sighed and yanked the feather out and tossed it to the side, it was useless for appearances now and in my opinion made the hat look better. With that done I decided to open my options menu, I have some information I need to look over.

 **Graphics**

 **Audio**

 **Gameplay**

 **Help**

I tapped on the help option and quickly pressed the 'new information' subsection. I frowned to myself as I read through it, in a way it's useful for the long run but right now it's just a pain. What is it, you ask? Well most of my skills have prestige levels, which is the idea that once you get a skill or whatever to a certain level, usually max, you can prestige it and it will get even stronger at some sort of cost. For example, in Skyrim once you max out a skill like, say, one-handed, to level one hundred you can turn it 'Legendary'. The skill would reset to level one and you get to keep the perk points you earned and get even more.

If I think back to Adam, his aura was at the bronze prestige, one above the base which is where my aura is currently at. The bronze prestige is shown by the skill having a bronze border around it and a bronze star above the skill icon. I don't know what it adds, the help section didn't offer anything about what it gives you, but it did say that to prestige a skill it must reach level ninety-nine. And the prestige levels range from base to bronze, to silver, and up to gold.

Which means to actually max a skill, I have to max the levels four times. Aura already levels at a slow enough rate, and I wince in agony at the amount of grinding I'll have to go through to get the skill to the true max. As of now 'Aura' is level forty five and I should start to use a ton of aura using skills to my daily workout so I can level it up quicker, it'll help me more in the future than doing just stat grinding. I haven't been getting any stats to my workout lately, it probably means I should increase my weights a lot. They've been feeling light.

And once again I find myself pissed at the loss of the instant dungeons, if I just waited a bit I could have created the time dilation dungeons and power level skills much faster. As it stands I have to do this the slow way.

Still, prestige must have its own benefits. Maxing a skill that often better turn me into an unstoppable force or something, cause that's just a pain in the ass. But anyway, I should go back to look into the Beacon students again. See if each year there adds a prestige or something, it probably doesn't but information is key to success. And survival.

I'm going to be good at that, even if it kills me.

* * *

The next day I found myself walking outside the city limits of Vale, I needed to find some Grimm so I can create and practice a bind skill. It didn't take me long to come into contact with some Beowolves, I wasn't hiding my presence.

"Let's see," I tapped a finger to my chin as I examined the Grimm before me and slowly charged my can with a Far Strike. All four of the Beowolves growled as they circled around. "I only need one of you."

I swept my cane in a large arc, catching three of the Beowolves before they could move out of the way. Quickly forming aura rope in my left hand I sent it towards the only Beowolf left, predictably the rope encircled and trapped the Beowolf in its grasp. The Grimm made a surprised yelp as it fell face first on the ground, losing two HP.

It growled in irritation and struggled in its binding.

"Come on, break free already," I muttered with another rope already formed in my hand. As if hearing my plea the Grimm flexed its arms one last time and the aura rope broke apart. I grinned, "There we go!"

I threw my hand forward and let the aura rope bind the Beowolf again, this time a prompt popped into view.

 **[Through the continuous use of a special action, the skill "Bind" has been created!]**

 **[Bind (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **This skill allows the user to tie up an enemy with a pure aura construct resembling rope. The aura construct has physical durability that can be broken with enough force and has a set time limit before it disappears on its own.**

 **Duration: 10 minutes**

 **Cost: 5 MP**

I grinned to myself and watched the Grimm squirm on the ground, trying to break free of the skill. It wasn't having much luck, as the rope was part of a proper skill now it was much stronger. I should go look for other Grimm now, I have enough aura to spam this attack and I have nothing else to do today.

I lifted Melodic Cudgel up and pointed its end at the Beowolf's head. With a large explosion the Grimm's head was promptly blown to pieces. I debated at first if I should bother taking the fang or not, I don't exactly craft anything with it. Shrugging, I stuck it into my inventory anyway, I had the room to spare and it might be useful later.

Honestly, I'm starting to think I'm developing a hoarding problem.

I summoned Rumble and he formed above the ground next to me. " **What is it you require, Roman?"** the earth elemental asked.

"Can you find any Grimm for me?"

The elemental didn't say anything and looked around, Rumble pointed in a seemingly random direction. " **There, there are large amounts of dark spawn in that direction."**

"Thanks, Rumble," I said. The elemental just nodded its head at me and slowly crumbled into dust. That was fine, I didn't need him to take care of some weak Grimm.

I dashed through the forest, taking care to not ruffle and dirty my new jacket too much. Not two minutes of running and jumping later, I finally caught sight of the first Beowolf. I kicked off a tree trunk and launched myself into the air into a clearing while holding my hand out and shouting in my head, " _Bind!"_

The first rope shot out of my hand and tied itself around the first Beowolf, it yelped in surprise as it suddenly felt itself fall to the ground and immobilized. I repeated the skill at the rest of the pack, fourteen in total.

 **['Bind' has risen by 1 level!]**

Awesome, that added an extra five minutes to the skill's duration. Just as I tapped out of the notification screen I heard a louder roar from the edge of the small clearing I and the rest of the Beowolf pack was in. I looked over to the treeline and a large Alpha Beowolf charged through the trees. I jumped back in surprise as its claws dug itself into the ground where I was previously standing.

I growled and held my hand out, " _Bind!"_

The rope shot out of my hand and wrapped itself around the Alpha. It seemed surprised at the move but a quick flex of its muscles had the rope around it shatter.

"Damn, seems I need to level it some more," I said to myself. "No matter, that thing can't hit me and I doubt I'd ever die to it. It'll be great skill practice."

And the Alpha was good practice, it never seemed to tire and broke out of its ropey prison much quicker than its lesser counterparts. And all I had to do for the lesser Grimm was reapply the bind skill to them. Great experience and once the Alpha started to take longer and longer to break out of the skill's hold, got it to level fifteen, I decided to stop grinding and simply kill the Grimm.

I wiped my forehead despite the fact that there wasn't any sweat to begin with. I probably spent a few hours out here in the forest, I should get back to my base and plan another heist before delivering the Dust from the warehouse last night to Walter's. We cleaned that place well, seems Adam didn't inform the police about our little skirmish and our night went by unmolested. Once we finished we threw the tied up White Fang members at the foot of a random police station and dove off into the night.

My scroll rang and vibrated in my pocket, I dug it out and answered, "Hello?"

" _Hey boss, that crazy police chick from the jewelry store has been snoopin' around the industrial district all day. She hasn't come near the base yet, but she might start. Just thought I'd warn ya before ya head back from whatever you're doin',"_ one of my henchmen that were slightly higher on the totem pole said.

Crazy police chick? I squinted my eyes as I tried to remember a crazy police chick, then a face with blonde hair and ridiculous aura levels stuck itself into my mind.

"Right, thanks for the tip," I replied.

" _No problem, boss."_

I closed my scroll and stuffed it back into my pocket. It seems that Jeanette Arc is going to be a regular pain, sad thing is that I doubt we, the criminals, are going to be able to buy her off. If she was like Juane then I'm sure she has some sort of hero complex. The industrial district isn't exactly patrolled regularly by the police, sure they put in a token amount so that the people of Vale have some semblance of security but the criminal underworld is too rooted there to make a difference. Not unless they want a full blown and open war between the police and the criminals that is.

Plus there was the bribing, bribing helps a lot. Bribing makes heads turn away and ruins the eyesight of people. And of course not everything in the industrial district is a part of the criminal underworld, in fact only a very small and select part of it is. But that small part is very influential, strong, and impossible to get rid of.

As strong as a good part of the police force is, with unlocked aura being the bare minimum requirement and almost all the police applicants have some combat training from a combat school, the criminals are stronger by virtue of having more people to field and more diversity. The police aren't hunters, so their combat capabilities are much weaker and are only really above civilians and the usual henchman. On the other side there are criminals that were ex-hunters or just have hunter level skill in battle, like me... eventually. The run-of-the-mill criminals are kept in check by the police, the stronger criminals were kept in check by the hunters themselves, and the Grimm would attack Vale in the event that any criminals try and take over the city. Which is why no one smart in the underworld even considers it, negative emotions and all that, you know.

The Grimm are dangerous and the first thing you do in the underworld is to keep yourself alive at any cost.

No matter how good or strong you were, an endless wave of monsters is still an endless wave of monsters. I'm the only person could keep up with that kind of battle, and even that could only last until I ran out of Dust crystals.

So, there is a nice equilibrium between the police, the criminals, the hunters, and the Grimm being kept in balance here. A silly girl trying to play hero is just the thing that could upset that balance and ruin everything. Right now I need as little distractions as possible.

So I lit a cigar and sprinted through the forest and back into the city, I had no intention of bothering with the police woman. If I can just keep myself out of her sights then she would not be much of a bother to my plans. Hell, she might even be useful to me, there are a few other kingpins in the city that will eventually get in my way. If I sic her on them and get them captured, that would only mean more profit for me in the long run.

* * *

Three days went by and I filled each night with a robbery on a randomly selected store throughout Vale. I sold the Dust I got from the White Fang warehouse, that netted me about a million and eighty thousand Lien. With that I technically had the Lien to buy the ship right now, but a smart person plans for the future and any disturbances. I'm going to hold off buying the ship for now and just stock Dust and other things from robberies until it was time to sell. Dust stores only give so much at a time, they aren't warehouses and I'd rather not make a ton of small sales if I can help it.

The mission from last night was a resounding success, nothing worthwhile happened and we left without a trace. It was a little boring to be honest. Don't get me wrong, boring means things go faster and more efficient but at the same time there just wasn't a huge thrill to go along with it. I was almost hoping for something to happen tonight, but I crushed that hope before I jinxed myself. Boring is good for now, I'll save thrills for me and Neo.

The drive down Vale was silent in the passenger van we were in, the larger van was left back at the base since the store we were heading to wasn't big enough to warrant it. I felt a little uneasy about this robbery, mostly because the guild mission my ability gave me had the difficulty as purple. That meant that it was a story driven mission and not a simple easy, medium, or hard difficulty one. The rewards were much better than the typical mission, but if video games taught me anything then it is that story driven mission tend to have a lot of things to them.

If they were done right, that is.

 **[Guild Mission! (Story)]**

 **You have targeted some random Dust shop in Vale, steal from it.**

 **Rewards: 50,000EXP, 25,000 Lien, tier 2 title unlocked.**

 **Failure: Decreased respect within criminal underworld, imprisonment.**

There wasn't a set goal to steal from this store, hell, I could probably get away with stealing a fucking pencil or something. But that won't net me the most money, so better to do this the right way. The van made a turn around a corner and I could see the Dust shop we were going to rob just down the street. Right smack in the middle of the block too. A tad bit more obvious and noticeable when we steal from it than I would have liked, I personally like stores with alleyways myself, but this was a mission generated by by ability so who am I to argue?

The van squeaked to a stop in front of the store and we all stepped out, I looked over to our driver and said, "Keep the van running and keep a look out."

He silently nodded at me and I and the other henchmen walked right up to the store front. One of my other henchmen jogged up to us with large handled containers. They opened them up and took out some Dust storage tubes and passed them around to a few other henchmen, I invested in a lot of those things and the best part was that I could reuse them as much as I want to. Walter's warehouse has a machine where you can just stick them into it and the machine takes the Dust out of it, leaving you with the tubes to be used again.

I cracked my neck, "Alright boys, let's make this quick."

That said I simply kicked the door in and strolled through the knocked down doorway, my goons rushing past me. The ones with the storage tubes went right for the store's own Dust tube storage, carrying some more of the storage tubes with them. Two with large suitcases went for the store counter where some of the higher quality Dust crystals were on display. The rest fanned out with bags and grabbed whatever they could find, I myself went up to the cash register and yanked a crowbar out. There might only be a few hundred Lien at most in there, but hey, every bit counts.

We were simply minding our own business, robbing this store blind. Then, everything changed when a body crashed through the windows.

* * *

 **(A/N) Fair warning, I don't really** _ **want**_ **to create an all-powerful god amongst men, but I also can't stop it from eventually happening. Don't get me wrong, our dear protag will most certainly be insanely strong. But** _ **that**_ **won't be for a while as his main source of EXP now is the guild missions, and as he gets higher leveled it takes longer and longer for the missions to give him levels. And only the harder missions give anywhere over 10,000 EXP.**

 **So, while it is theoretically possible for him to become a god, we won't see it for a good long while. As that kind of power, in comparison to experienced hunters, would be around the mid two hundreds and higher. Not yet counting the power boost say, a maiden, would get.**

 **Plus, a god-tiered character would be boring as hell to write. Every battle would be a rofl-stomp.**

 **Also, our MC is not creating a new kingdom for himself, as a character that just isn't what he wants to do or even consider. After all, there is so much you need to do to keep a kingdom running and survive, it's more than 'create this building there with X magical power and people will flock'. He is a thief and a criminal, not a ruler. It's a fun concept, but not one I, or our MC, would want to explore.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 37 (Next Level: 51,720/70,300)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 28,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,494**

 **MP: 4,178 [3,214 + 160.7(5%) + 803.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 49 [Base 35 + 10.5(30%) + 3.5(10%)]**

 **VIT: 64.4 [Base 46 + 13.8(30%) + 4.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 141.4 [Base 101 + 30.3(30%) + 10.1(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 3,603,690**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	10. Chapter 10

**(A/N) Preemptive Guest/reviewer strike, read chapter 8's bottom A/N for info on what the aura skill actually is.**

 **Also, I apologize for longer chapter updates, I no longer have two days a week free so I can't work on the story nearly as much. Might also mean chapters are a tad shorter.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 10**

I blinked in astonishment as I stopped stuffing the Lien from the register in order to lean over the counter and stare at the knocked out henchman I had keeping watch outside.

"Hey! That's Jim!" another henchman helpfully supplied as he stopped stuffing small boxes of Dust into his own bag.

I looked back to the destroyed window and who did I find? Jeanette Arc stepping over the now windowless ledge, glaring spitefully at me. I grabbed the rest of the cash and stuffed it into my inventory, placing my free hands on the counter like I owned the place and toggled my aura back on, just in case, "Hello ma'am and welcome to my humble shop! What can I get for you tonight?"

Jeanette didn't find my attempt at humor funny and pulled out her handgun to point it at me, spitefully sneering out, "How about you turn yourselves in, criminal."

"Now you listen here, buttercup," one of my men started as he stalked forward with an ax in hand, intent to get back at the policewoman. He pointed at her, "We ain't gonna let what you did to Jimmy stand!"

" _Oh dear god no, you seriously aren't about to do what I think you are, are you?"_

I held a hand out to stop him before he regrets it, "Ok, just stop right th-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence as Jeanette slammed the palm of her hand into his weapon hand and knocked it out, quickly following up with a painful looking gut shot and a roundhouse kick that would've made Chuck Norris blush. My goon, unsurprisingly, went down without much of a fight and flew into a shelf near the shop's counter. You'd think this would be where every other goon stopped and thought things through, but instead all of my men got pissed and charged her.

I face palmed and muttered to myself, "Ugh, henchmen should never fight the strong enemies. Most of them even encountered her before..."

Barely a couple of seconds later all of my henchmen flew back into the store, knocking over various shelves and landing painfully. On of the lucky ones simply slammed into the ceiling and fell behind the counter with me. I looked down at my groaning henchman, caught his eye, and said, "How about you let me take this one again. Grab whatever you've already stolen and the other men and head back to base."

"W-What about you boss?" He stuttered and grunted out as I kept an eye on Jeanette.

I cracked my neck and replied, "Gonna keep her busy. If something manages to happen, I'll be back in a couple of days tops. The police can't hold me, and I'll prove it to them."

"If you're sure…" He slowly said as he grabbed the side of his chest and limped off.

He looked unsure about the whole thing, but I've treated them well enough and proven my strength, the least they could do was follow my instructions for a few days before giving up on me. Anyway, when I get back I might have to start giving these guys some combat lessons, if they go down in only a few seconds like that they can't even be called cannon fodder… Cannon fodder is meant to hold the opposition back for a little longer than that.

I put a hand on the store's counter and leapt over it, keeping Melodic Cudgel at the ready as I began my stalling of time. Judging from Jeanette's new level, she seemed to have gained an extra.

 **The True and the Just**

 **Lv63 Jeanette Arc**

And judging from my observe skill her stats seemed like she'd been focusing on increasing her dexterity a bit, not much else changed from her other stats. This was a good choice for her since she couldn't even touch me last time, it still was not even close to my level yet. And damn if I'm not at least proud of that fact.

"Alright little lady, if you wanted to dance with me, you just had to ask," I said as I got into a defensive stance and twirled my cane before pointing the barrel at the policewoman. She didn't say anything as she got into her own ready stance before firing her gun at me and charged forward.

I deftly deflected the bullets and sidestepped the first fist that tried to crash into my jaw, the same fist instead crushed the counter behind me. I leapt away from the glass shrapnel with a lazy flip and returned fire from my cane. It seems she wasn't keen on letting me hit her and jumped away from the blast towards the doorway of the store.

I grunted in frustration and pointed my cane to where she was now, firing more shots in her general direction. Once again she jumped out of the way, the heavy explosive shots from my cane instead hitting racks of magazines and sending paper scattering around the store.

"Stay still!" I said, annoyed at missing the young woman as I spent the next two minutes letting loose a constant barrage of cane shots at where ever she landed. How I haven't managed to hit her yet, despite my much higher dexterity advantage, is anyone's guess. So far it seems that she increasing her dexterity has been a right pain in my ass, she was much more slippery now. And not in the fun way.

This was starting to get more annoying and troublesome by the minute.

"Having trouble keeping up, old man?" Jeanette taunted me as she once again leapt from where my shots impacted the store. The place has seen better days, I'm pretty sure every wall had at least one hole in it, including the ceiling and floor. I'm just glad that my henchmen managed to somehow traverse this battleground.

"In your dreams kid, I can keep up with you all night," this was starting to sound vaguely sexual to me, at the very least she's legal so I don't feel weird about it. Finally, what else she said registered in my head and I promptly retorted, "And I'm not old, I'm only in my twenties!"

Twenty-four actually, I looked it up on my scroll. Apparently it keeps some basic information about you on it, why my status didn't have that information on it I have no idea. At this point  
I'm beginning to feel like it is purposely withholding information from me in order to fuel its own amusement.

 **[Your intelligence has increased by 1!]**

" _Oh, fuck off…"_ I mentally groaned in annoyance, I had to hold back the facepalm as I was in the middle of combat. Then I remembered something important, " _Bind!"_

I pointed my free hand at Jeanette and rope made of pure aura shot out of my hand and wrapped itself around her. I saw her eyes widen in surprise as the aura construct tightened its hold around her body. I laughed and pointed my cane at her, firing a few shots at her prone body. I can't believe I almost forgot about this skill I just made.

The explosive shots of my cane impacted the policewoman and she yelped in pain as she slammed into a wall. At this point I could almost hear her teeth gnashing in anger, I laughed again and said, "You know, I almost forgot about that move of mine blonde. But I gotta say, I like you much more when you're all tied up."

She growled at me and strained herself against her bonds, "Grr, what the hell is this?! Your semblance or something?"

I pretended to think it over and tapped my cane absently on the ground, I exaggeratingly nodded, "Sure, let's go with that. Now, I believe it is time for me to go. This has been fun and all, but I have things to do. Important things. Things that don't require the meddling of some kid playing hero."

I made to start leaving but stopped when I heard Jeanette mutter, "Like _hell_ I'm letting you away gain!"

I chuckled and turned around, "And how are you going to stop m-"

I was cut off when Jeanette screamed in anger, her body glowed with aura and she thrashed even harder in her bindings. Not even a second later the aura bindings simply tore apart and Jeanette leapt back to her feet and jumped to the side to avoid the shots I fired at her, her body still glowing.

"And now she's a light show," I muttered, figuring this was probably her semblance at work, as I started to fire off yet another shot from my weapon, once again missing her and shattering the store's last window, in response she jumped to the ceiling and kicked off it in order to punch me really hard in the face. Much faster than before, might I add. Naturally, I did not want to be punched hard in the face and backpedaled, getting ready to instead fire into her at point blank. Then I tripped.

Yeah...

I tripped right over a fallen shelf, how I did not notice the piece of broken furniture was something I didn't know. I usually keep a good idea of my surroundings, kinda have to if you want to use your high dexterity to your full advantage. So when my foot snagged the edge of the wooden furniture and I started to fall over, I was caught so completely flat footed by the whole thing I didn't even register Jeanette taking advantage of my momentary lapse by burying her knuckles into my stomach. At least, until the pain hit me that is.

I grunted in pain as my body crushed the shelf below me, I could feel the back of my jacket being shredded by the wooden splinters. Somehow during our fight the buttons of my jacket came undone and my hat flew off my head. All the glowing must be part of some sort of special attack because my aura, that hasn't been drained at all during the fight, dipped below two thirds remaining. That's one hell of a hit.

But that wasn't the real problem, the real problem came by sirens blaring and cars screeching to a full stop before the entrance of the store. Jeanette, still glowing, slammed a boot onto my chest and I could feel her glare bore into my head. I was pinned now, I don't really have the strength necessary to wrestle with her. Normally I'd use Rumble to escape from this situation, but since my ability hasn't told me I'd failed this mission yet, that might mean I'm _suppose_ to get caught. Knowing that, I simply smirked back up at her and flicked the hand holding my weapon, tossing it into my inventory without her knowing.

"Well, well, well," I started as she practically grinded me under her foot. "I didn't know a kid like you was into the kinky stuff so early. Gonna read me my rights before you ravage me?"

She sneered down at me as she pressed down with her boot with much more force, keeping me from speaking further, "Silence, criminal, you're under arrest."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see police officers flood into the building, taking stock of what the state of the store was. I had a good six circling me, all with some sort of automatic rifles. While I'm certain I'm tough enough to withstand those for a short period of time, I'd rather not risk death and instead remained still. Guns do a respectable amount of damage to aura, granted it's a set amount because guns don't normally increase their power with training. Enough bullets would chew through my aura, and I haven't increased it enough just yet.

So I just kept my hands around my head until Jeanette decided it was time to forcibly flip me onto my stomach and handcuff me. While she was reading me my rights and handcuffing me I looked in front of me to see a police officer grab my hat and hand it over to someone else, likely to be used as evidence or something. I mentally shrugged, not a big loss.

"Hey, Jeanette," one of the officer's examining the store said, scratching his head.

"What is it?" the girl asked, looking over at the guy speaking.

"Where's this guy's weapon? It was suppose to be a cane or something?"

Jeanette looked around the store confused, "I was sure he had it before I handcuffed him…" She turned and glared down at me, displeased at not being able to keep my weapon from me. "Where is your weapon, _criminal_?"

I smirked up at her and winked, "The only weapon I have is the one in my pants." I gave her my best seductive look and purred, "You wanna frisk me, officer?"

She matched my seduction with an unwavering glare and didn't bother to even give a comeback, spoilsport. She looked back at the officer that spoke up, "Keep searching the store, it might've flown off when I hit him into the ground."

I just laughed as the officer went snooping around the store, Jeanette yanked me to my feet and shoved me forward. I complied and willfully started to walk out of the store, as slowly as possible of course. I heard the young woman growl in frustration at my antics before she jabbed me in the back with her baton, "Walk faster, criminal. You can't delay justice for much longer."

I looked over my shoulder at her, "Now, I can certainly try right? What's justice ever done for me, eh?"

She didn't say anything else, I felt a tad disappointed at that as I was practically being dragged into the back of an armoured van. The doors to the back closed as Jeanette took her place across from me and crossed her arms, making sure her gaze never wavered from me. I winked and said, "See something you like?"

"You wish," was her bland reply.

I laughed as I felt the van start moving, "Now don't be like that, we've got some time to ourselves before we reach our destination. How's about some _fun_?" I waggled my eyebrows at her.

She just rolled her eyes and didn't respond.

* * *

I was pushed through the doors of the police station by Jeanette, she had decided that she had enough of my slow walking and grabbed me by the back of my jacket. "You know, I have two perfectly working legs under me. I can walk myself."

"I know, but those two perfectly working legs aren't working fast enough. You're just stalling."

I sniffed in indignation as I was practically dragged through the whole police station. Most of the police there stopped what they were doing and stared at the two of us, pointing and muttering. I eyed a group of them who seemed to give Jeanette the evil eye, noting the fact they were some of the ones on the payroll of Walter.

"Popular, aren't you?" I said as we turned a corner away from prying eyes. I smirked at her twitching eyebrow, "The 'Justice of Vale' not liking someone such as yourself? Maybe they just don't like the fact you're interrupting their payments."

Suddenly we stopped and I was slammed into the wall of the police station, she glared into my eyes and said, "I will stop at nothing in order to tear away the injustice and criminal acts that plague this city. I will not stop until corruption is gone and the people of the city don't have to fear criminal mongrels like yourself or corrupt officers of the law."

I looked back at her, "So, you admit your little posse here is corrupt?"

She sneered, "Do I look like an idiot to you? Of course I know, but that just makes me want to fight harder. I will not give up."

We were silent for a few moments until I finally broke the silence, "It's commendable, you wanting to tear away the rot that infects this city. But unlike you, I have more realistic thoughts to this whole thing. You can't get rid of the rot, it's embedded into the very nature of humans and faunus. The most you can do is slow it down. Even if you manage to become chief and crack down on crime, when you step down someone else will take your place, and who's to say they won't let the rot spread again? It's a nice fairytale you're thinking of, but in the end it's just a fairytale."

"We'll see about that," was her only reply as she pulled me from the wall and led me into a bright room with measurement lines running across the wall. Ah, this must be when Roman was suppose to get his mug shot.

"How's my hair?" I asked Jeanette as she shoved the large identification card into my hands.

"Ratty and unkempt, just like you," she said as she pushed me forward. She pointed at a spot on the ground marked with white tape in front of a camera, "Now, stand there, hold the card up, and face the camera."

I did as she said, no point in ruining my personal mugshot. Once she left the room I gave my best smirk at the camera and held my large identification card up. A bright light flashed and a voice over the intercom said, "Now, turn your head."

The basic parts of the booking process went by quickly and it was time for me to be held in my own personal holding cell while they process me in the system and wait for whatever judgment is needed. I didn't really plan on being here long enough for that to matter. Also, I think I figured out why I tripped during my little tussle with Jeanette back at the store.

I came across this realization just as I sat down on a bench attached to the wall of the holding cell I was in, I had nothing to do but think. I'm pretty sure that embarrassing moment, one I'm glad my men weren't around to see, was caused by the extreme differences in luck between me and Jeanette.

Seriously, she had over _eighty_ luck, I was still sitting at the measly eleven I started out with when I first came into this world. I rested my cheek in my hand as I gazed at the status screen in front of me, eyeing the low luck stat. Tentatively I raised a single gloved finger and pushed it onto the stat.

 **[This is your luck stat! It is a very important factor in everyone's life as it determines what kind of fate you'll have. Normally people have around 10 luck, this means their luck in life is rather average, they could just as easily live until old age or die in a messy Grimm attack. Someone under that threshold will probably not live very long, or if they do it's not very pleasant. People over that threshold will have more good things happen to them and less bad. It also helps in everything you do in small ways.**

 **Due to your unique ability, the LUK stat also increases drops from Grimm. The higher, the better the chance of getting rare, unique, or legendary drops. A must have!**

 **Due to your unique ability, the stat affects critical hit chances on non-vital parts of your foe's body.]**

So, I feel like a right idiot for not even bothering to increase my luck at all during my time so far in Remnant. I was almost tempted to put the five stat points I hadn't bothered to put into any stats yet into my luck stat, but held off. It would be better if I held off on doing anything with those points until I increase luck through mundane means. The beginnings of a plan of increasing luck was already forming inside my head, I just needed _a lot_ of dice.

But that is to be put on hold for now, since I still hadn't failed the story mission it meant I still had something I needed to do. And I'm pretty sure that meant escaping from the police before they send me off to jail. I don't really have time to get my hat, but it's not like I don't have like five of them in my inventory anyway...

* * *

 **(A/N) Next chapter is the breakout. Sounds fun, right?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 37 (Next Level: 51,720/70,300)**

 **Title: Up and Coming Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 28,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,494**

 **MP: 4,261 [3,278 + 163.9(5%) + 819.5(25%)]**

 **STR: 49 [Base 35 + 10.5(30%) + 3.5(10%)]**

 **VIT: 64.4 [Base 46 + 13.8(30%) + 4.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 11**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

 **Lien: 3,603,690**

 **Status Effects:** **Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Wait, wait, wait!** **Gotta explain something.**

 **Right, well if you haven't read my profile page then I should explain why I've been a bit absent. See, I accidentally had water spilt onto my laptop, ruining it completely. Without a laptop I couldn't write, and while I could use my phone I despise writing on my phone. I make waaay more silly errors on it than a computer.**

 **Anyway, since I'm not made of money I had to take an extended leave to save up for a new computer. I have it now and will hopefully make some more frequent updates. Though I have also been dealing with Hurricane Harvey (I live in Houston) and the new college semester that's going to start soon after being delayed, so I can't make new chapters appear at the snap of a finger like before.**

 **Anywho, enjoy the chapter!**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 11**

I waited until the guard patrolling the cell block went to go get his replacement before I made my move.

Once he left I opened my inventory with a thought and gently plucked a lockpick out of my personal hammerspace. With some clever wrist and hand movements that would make any girl instantly fall in love with me, I picked the lock of my handcuffs and watched the restricting metal clank to the floor. Nodding to myself I lazily hefted my body upright from my bench and sauntered to the cell door. I gave as good a look down the hallway as well as I could manage to double check if any officers were coming, once I was sure I was in the clear I stuck my lockpick into the cell door and went to town. Picking locks really makes me wonder why the police still use key cuffs and locks when Remnant is suppose to have some pretty crazy technology.

With a satisfying click the door swung open and I tossed my lock pick back into my inventory as I whistled a tune and simply walked out of the cell and loitered in the hallway.

" _Now, how should I do this…"_ I mused to myself as I rubbed my chin. " _The front door is a no-go, too many people in the main building. I might be a confident man, but I don't like my chances with that many people."_

I bit my lip, I needed to come up with a plan quick. The holding cells only have one entrance and the surrounding walls were thick concrete, the direct route is obviously out so that only leaves an alternate way. I don't have enough Dust on me to blow through the walls, but, well, I have something better.

"Rumble," I spoke into the air.

" **I am here,** " came the deep voice of my earth elemental, like boulders tumbling down a mountain.

I looked over at a nearby empty wall and gestured, "Think you can tear part of this wall down? Like it was hit by an explosion or something?"

" **Yes,** " Rumble spoke.

"Good, do that for me, please," I politely said, never forget your manners, kids.

Without another word Rumble simply channeled some of my aura and touched the wall, the concrete cracking and exploding into pieces. It wasn't loud enough to draw attention, which annoyed me because I'll have to now use some of my own Dust to draw attention and that costs money. But I like style and a chase through town sounds fun, so I can live with it for now.

" **It is done. Do you require anything else?** "

I shook my head, "Not right now."

" **Then I shall take my leave for now.** "

And with that Rumble crumbled into dust, his objective fulfilled. Not willing to waste anymore time, I opened my inventory and scattered a few Dust crystals around the hole. I backed up until I went a bit further down the hallway and took out Melodic Cudgel, I smirked and pulled the trigger, watching the flare-like missile shoot out and explode on the Dust. There was a deafening boom upon contact with the Dust and I could feel the floor shake just a bit from the force. I looked back at the hole through the dusty air, it wasn't any bigger than before but it did sport some new scorch marks and made the rubble spread out more chaotically.

Perfect.

I started my way to the hole just as I heard yelling come from the main area of the building, I hopped over some soot to avoid getting too dirty and gave a cheeky wave to the first cops that arrived at the scene. I was disappointed Jeanette wasn't one of them, but I figured she might be somewhere else.

"Later boys, you will always remember this as the day you _almost_ caught Roman Torchwick," with that almost total ripoff from one of my favorite movies (as I'm not a captain and don't own a ship yet), and I should look and see if Remnant has anything similar, I fired my cane at the officers as a distraction and fled the police station through the hole.

* * *

"Hoo boy, running from a police station after escaping, setting off some minor explosives, and shooting at some police officers is actually kinda difficult," I muttered to myself as I ducked under a stray bullet while sprinting down an alley. Not too long after my escape the rest of the police force mobilized to try and stop me. I've spent the past ten minutes running around Vale, ducking into alleyways, and sprinting around corners to try and ditch them.

Speaking of corners, I just shot around another one as a bullet slammed into the wall and kicked up some brick dust. As I quickly look around my new surroundings I silently thank my meager luck stat, a tall ladder was bolted to the side of the wall. I used all my strength and agility to dash at the ladder, using my momentum and even more strength to launch myself into a jump that would make an Olympic athlete blush. I launched myself a good sixteen feet at least.

Just as I grabbed the ladder I got myself a notification.

 **[Due to the use of a special action, the skill "Power Jump" has been created!]**

 **[Power Jump (Active) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **Jumping is something the average person can do, but with the introduction of Aura and your very own muscles you can jump higher than that average person! Flip across the battlefield like a pinball of death or just use it to get into those hard to reach places, the choice is yours!**

 **Height jumped is based on the player's STR, DEX, and the amount of Aura(MP) put into the skill. The higher level the skill, the less Aura is needed to go a certain distance.**

 **MP Cost: Varied**

Cool beans, jumping around like a Jedi sounds pretty sweet. Climbing the ladder up didn't take much time and I managed to pull myself over the edge of the building in no time at all.

"There he is!" Shouted a voice just as I stepped onto the roof.

I turned my head and saw a gaggle of policemen come running around the corner, one of them dramatically pointing up at me. I can assume he was the one who shouted.

"Shit, I was hoping I'd lose them before they came around the corner," I muttered to myself and took off across the rooftop. It wasn't all that big of a deal, they'd just have a better idea of which general direction I was headed. As I neared the edge of the roof I held my hat down with one hand and powered up my newest skill for a jump onto the slightly taller building in the way. Might as well get a feel for things while I have the chance to use it.

I wasn't sure on how much I needed to use on my skill, not like the skill's description was of any help, so I just dumped two hundred Aura into it. Once I got near enough to the edge I jumped and used the skill, sending me more than high enough to clear the distance and do a flip for style.

I landed crouched and began running and roof hopping my way over Vale.

" _Minimap,"_ I thought to myself. A transparent screen popped in front of me, giving me a detailed idea of where I was. "Alright… so I just need to go there, turn that corner…" I muttered to myself as I jumped into a construction yard and carefully planned my route back to base, I didn't need anyone to follow me there after all.

A rather large and very loud boom interrupted my thoughts and I came to a sliding stop in front of a crater. My minimap blinked out of existence as I readied my cane. The dust cleared and my favorite policewoman was revealed in its epicenter.

"You know," I started. "You really shouldn't destroy the ground of this construction site. Those workers put a lot of effort into making it just right you know, you're wasting precious tax money doing things like that. Not that I care, really. I don't even pay taxes."

She kept silent as she tensed her body and darted straight at me.

I made my move the instant she moved, dodging her first strike and slamming my cane into the back of her head. Or that was the idea anyway, she ducked under that swing and used her legs in a classic leg sweep. I gracefully backflipped over that attack, a feat that if you asked me a few months ago I'd deny I'd ever be cool enough to do, and hopped a bit further away from her.

"Not feeling up for pillow talk? Such a shame, and here I thought young girls liked a bit of romance," I mocked as I used my new skill to even better use to jump over another attack, this time Jeanette's fist smashed into the ground. I landed on one of the girders of this new building's metal skeleton.

I eyed the new crater her fist made, "Seriously, just what is your problem with the ground tonight?"

"Shut up and fight me! This is serious!" Jeanette shouted up at me.

I tsked and shook my head, "No can do, blondie. I have very important plans I need to move forward on and I can't waste anymore time dancing with you tonight."

She leapt onto the same girder with me and went straight on the attack. "What plans?! If you're planning on hurting the people of Vale then I'm going to stop you!"

I leaned aside and let her fist sail past my chest, "Now now, I'm not about to tell you all of my plans. Do I look like some sort of cheap two-bit villain to you?" I hooked my cane around her outstretched arm and used her momentum to flip her over my shoulder. She slammed into steel, but that didn't seem like it would slow her down.

As expected she picked herself right back up and she charged me once more, not like there was much room for any other kind of attack. I simply power jumped straight up, grabbed the girder above us with one hand and swung myself up to the next level. This level of the building had more going on with it, a temporary floor had been constructed to cover most of it. I wasted no time and began sprinting across, a thud and more pounding feet signaled that Jeanette had also follow me up.

I jumped over a set of tools in the middle of the level's floor and scanned the area for anyway of escape, I really didn't feel like fighting right now.

Then, everything seemed to stop and my sight darkened by a lot.

I couldn't hear anything. My breathing, Jeanette following me, my feet pounding on the floor, in fact, I can't even move or breathe. But oddly I wasn't struggling for air. A bright blue screen appeared in front of me and I knew it had something to do my Gamer ability.

 **[You have just encountered your very first quick-time event! These special events sometimes appear whenever you do something that needs to be done using quick reflexes. Quick-time events are often combat related and can only be triggered when on the defensive.]**

" _Interesting…"_ I thought to myself as I blinked and mentally made the box blink into the next one.

 **[A quick-time event relies heavily on the Gamer's dexterity stat and also takes into account various speed, perception, or reflex buffs and debuffs to increase or decrease difficulty accordingly. As you will likely come into contact with these events often, it would be a wise move on the Gamer's part to increase their dexterity whenever they are able.]**

 **[While in a defensive quick-time event you will see vague shadowy "ghosts" that signal where an attack will likely strike. The darker the ghost, the closer this particular attack of the event is to follow through. Be sure to place yourself out of harm's way before it goes completely black.]**

 **[Bullets are slightly different, each bullet has a brightly lit path it follows that fills up as the bullet reaches you. Because of the speeds bullets can reach, time will stay slowed down as you react to them. If there are multiple bullets coming your way then it is up to you which bullet you'll react to first. Remember, if both a normal attack and a bullet attack are coming at you at the same time, any action on the normal attack will resume time and you won't be able to do anything further on the bullets.]**

Kinda weird, I've deflected bullets before and they didn't trigger this "quick-time event". Even if deflecting bullets is admittedly mostly instinct based on my part, I can still do it easily if the weapon my enemy is using is a single shot. Guess this new addition is meant for something more… tactical? Make it easier against rapid fire? I mean, I'm pretty sure I can't casually deflect bullets from a machine gun or Gatling gun without some sort of assistance. Those things shoot _really_ fast.

 **[How much time, in your perception, you have to react before the outline turns black is determined by your dexterity and any buffs or debuffs that apply. Once you are out of the way, you decide to block or parry, or if the ghost turns fully black, then time will return to normal.]**

 **[Please note: time will resume and be slowed, not stopped, upon closing this box and the quick-time event will begin. In the future, you will not receive a prior warning when a quick-time event starts. Your personal movement speed during the quick-time is also affected by your dexterity and other speed buffs or debuffs.]**

 **[Quick-time events can be rendered obsolete by obtaining certain skills.]**

This was unexpected, but I guess it isn't something _inherently_ bad. Hell, it sounds kinda fun.

I closed the box and immediately started turning around, everything was slowed down exactly as the short tutorial said. I could see the black outline of some sort of rectangular box slowly turning black in front of my face. I glanced over at Jeanette and saw a brick slowly tumbling through the air at my head. With all the speed of my slow-motion movement, which is agonizingly slow coupled with my perception of time, I slowly leaned to the side matrix style and let myself do a bit of a rotating hop.

Time resumed its normal pace the instant my face was out of the way and the brick nearly shaved some skin off my nose. I used my hand to spring myself back to my feet and make the momentum of my dodge turn into a sliding stop. I had a brief moment to reflect on how easy that quick-time event was, but I figured it was probably because of our differences in dexterity.

The two of us stood facing each other in the middle of the floor, Jeanette armed with more bricks in each hand. The silence and stillness was only very brief before we exploded into action, Jeanette fired off one of her bricks. Time slowed and I made my move, which was a simple lean to the side. The brick sailed past me when time resumed, only to be slowed again as another brick outline was aimed at my face.

I didn't have the luxury of wondering if she had something personal against my face, the outline was turning black faster than before. I just barely got my head out of the way before the outline turned black and the brick slammed into a vertical girder behind me. I got a brief glance at the girder, it was dented and brick powder was still hanging in the air. Sheesh.

I jumped to the side as the world slowed around me as yet another brick tried to slam home into my chest.

" _Where the hell is she getting all of these bricks from?"_

I looked over at the policewoman and saw that she was standing next to a large stack of bricks.

" _Oh."_

I aimed Melodic Cudgel at the stack and fired off a few shots. Overkill, maybe, but they were kind of annoying.

Jeanette dodged the blast with a roll and came up pulling out a bulky looking sword she had holstered behind her back.

"Going for the melee approach, eh?" I asked the cop, readying my cane.

She didn't answer and simply flicked the sword to the side, the weapon began transforming from a simple looking and bulky broadsword into a machine gun. Just as the weapon finished clicking into place Jeanette slammed a magazine into the bottom of the gun-sword and pointed the barrel at me.

"Of course, it's also a gun," I muttered to myself just as Jeanette pressed down on the trigger and the world slowed.

I could see a lot of brightly colored lines pointed at my body, each one filling up to inch ever closer to me. I didn't have much time to work with so I used all of my intelligence to plan the best way to deflect all of the bullets and my dexterity to make that happen. I placed my cane into the path of the first bullet and felt the tiny bit of metal slowly bounce of my superior weapon, the second I was safe from that one I began moving my cane again. The next bullet was deflected, plus an additional one as I angled my cane in a way that caught two at once.

Hey, the tutorial didn't say I couldn't affect more than one thing at a time if I wanted to.

I spent what felt like minutes just slowly inching backwards while deflecting and slightly dodging bullets in slow motion or tanking what few I couldn't react to. When the last one was finally sent off away from me time resumed back to normal. Honestly, I wish I could have seen that from an outsider's perspective as it must've looked sick as fuck.

 **[Quick-time event has ended!]**

I brushed the tip of my hat at Jeanette with a finger, "Thanks for the fun, it's been awhile since I've entertained a lady wanting to dance with me so badly." I twirled my cane and glanced behind me at the edge I've found myself at, "But I'm afraid I'll have to cut our date short."

With that I pointed my cane to the side and fired out of the building, hitting a crane holding a metal girder. Not the safest thing construction workers should do, but I'm not about to complain. I hit something important and it made the crane swing its load wildly around the site, I quickly shot my hand out and the charging policewoman and used a quick bind spell.

The swinging girder came by my spot and I flipped my cane around and fired the hook at one of the metal wires keeping it connected to the crane. I gripped the cane's shaft tightly and let myself be taken away, I immediately retracted the hook and dragged myself to the girder. I grabbed the hunk of metal with one hand and unhooked my cane, once the spinning piece of construction material passed over a different building I let go and dropped to the roof.

I wasted no time, sprinting across the rooftop and away from any crazy cops. I winced at the sound of screeching metal and only glance back to see the building tearing itself apart.

* * *

I dramatically opened the doors to my safe house, making the nearby goons jump in shock and ready their weapons. Good, that means they aren't completely useless.

"Anybody miss me?" I asked the crowd.

My sharply dressed men just stared at me like I had grown a second head, I just sighed and closed the door. Jerry, my ever faithful Commander of the Goons (That's not to be confused with "Second in Command", that spot is reserved for Neo) came running up to me.

"Boss! You're back already! I thought you said you'd be there for a few days at least?"

I cracked my neck and replied, "Well, I had a hunch that they, or one of them at least, were trying to streamline me through the whole booking process. Instead of staying in a holding cell for a few days while they dealt with bureaucracy, I would have been shipped off to an actual prison by the next morning. That would've been a lot more annoying to deal with."

I pulled out a cigar and lit it, taking a deep drag, "At least I came out of this with an official mugshot for my record, so I'd say this whole thing was a success despite not making much money off of it."

"We managed to get _some_ loot," Jerry supplied. "Not as much as we hoped, but it's still something."

I nodded, "Good, get that sorted out if you haven't already, I'm going to go plan and think for a while. Tonight was a bit of a setback, but if we let every close call with the authorities hold us back then we'll never get anything done." I pointed my cigar at the general direction of the rest of my posse and grunted out, "Also, all of the men will be doing some combat training. I don't like that you all can't hold out even a little bit against a single super cop."

"Got it boss," Jerry saluted and rushed off to get stuff done. God, I'm so glad I got him.

I walked over to my planning area and studied the map of Vale for a bit.

 **[Story Mission Completed!]**

 **Reward: 50,000EXP(+25,000EXP with title bonus), 25,000 Lien**

 **[Tier 2 Title "Kingpin" Unlocked!]**

 **[You have gained a level!]**

 **[Your bounty has increased by 10,000 Lien!]**

I dismissed the notifications and checked out what my new title is supposed to give me.

 **[Kingpin - Tier 2 title]**

 **You are now recognized as a legitimate player in the criminal underworld. You have gained some notoriety and at least a few will recognize who you are on sight. Keep it up and you will rise even higher than a small time Kingpin.**

 **-Guild membership limit increased by 30.**

 **-When completing a Guild Mission with your minions, gain an additional 100% EXP from the mission.**

 **-When fighting with your minions, your minions gain an extra 50% in damage.**

Wow, that's a pretty big upgrade from the previous title. Hell, the extra Guild members doubled, the extra EXP I gain from Guild mission's doubled, and the damage my minions do when I'm around more than doubled.

I switched my titles and focused on the large round table with an empty fruit bowl sitting in front of my map of Vale. I opened my inventory and started placing some of the dice I stole from a shop along the way into the bowl, when the bowl was full enough I picked it up and said, "At least half will land on an even."

I dumped the bowl over and let the dice roll across the table, a good portion of the dice landed on odd. But fortunately, pun intended, luck, heh, was on my side for this first attempt.

 **[You have gained 2 Luck!]**

I grinned in delight. Sure, I only gained two luck because my luck stat was low and I was using a lot of dice at once, but it proves that if I mix things up enough then I have the best luck grinder in the world. I'm just glad I don't need to gamble with money, luck isn't _that_ narrow.

Time to plan which place to rob next and grind luck.

* * *

 **Hi.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 38 (Next Level: 56,420/74,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,544**

 **MP: 4,326 [3,328 + 166.4(5%) + 832(25%)]**

 **STR: 49 [Base 35 + 10.5(30%) + 3.5(10%)]**

 **VIT: 64.4 [Base 46 + 13.8(30%) + 4.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 13**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 3,628,690**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	12. Chapter 12

**(A/N) And here we go, enjoy!**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 12**

It's been a week since the Guild story mission and I've gained three levels in that time.

This past week has been spent sending out some of my men to do a ton of small robberies or simple reconnaissance, even putting aside personal training to tackle the harder missions myself. Things so far have been going smoothly for the most part, aside from the occasional minor bump along the road like unexpected police turn up (luckily the crazy blonde stalker of mine didn't show up). I've even managed to grind out thirty extra luck for my Luck stat, now it sits at a nice forty-three, and I've also figured out how to level it quicker if I wanted to. I _can_ power level the stat through mass guessing with dice, although it's comparable to a hammer in its application. But from what the help section my ability gives me says it levels faster with money on the line, instead of a hammer think of that as a surgeon's scalpel. As I'm trying to not lose money right now, I figured I'd put that on hold for the moment.

Forty-three luck is good enough to give me some more breathing room right now anyway, getting extra stat points over forty has become a chore using the dice method and my time is better spent doing something else right now.

Like burning a ton of Aura to get that next Aura skill level that's been teasing me for the past hour. I've been sitting in my room pushing Aura out into a wall-like shield, which had given me a familiar skill.

 **[Aura Shield (active) Lv3 Exp 55.4%**

 **One of the most basic defense skills using Aura that can be manipulated to cover a wider area. Not to be mistaken with a person's own personal Aura shield that naturally coats their body.**

 **Cost: 30 MP**

 **Additional Cost: 46 MP/Min**

 **Up to three shields can be created at once, this increases the cost by three.]**

Come on… yes!

 **["Aura" has gained 1 level!]**

 **[Aura Lv52 (Passive/Active) EXP 0.1%**

 **The manifestation of your soul. When active it creates a sort of force field around your body, protecting it from harm.**

 **Passively increases all stats except LUK by 30%.**

 **When active, increases all stats except LUK by an additional 30% and allows MP to be used as a second health bar.**

 **Extra effect (lv50): 50% extra Aura.**

 **Cost: MP regen disabled until deactivated. (Parameters to remove this cost not yet achieved)]**

Finally. I've been trying to level up my Aura skill as much as possible ever since I first bothered to check the skill. I had glanced at my stat window one time and I noticed I had a bit more Aura than usual. Apparently, at level twenty-five, the Aura skill gained an extra effect that I didn't notice, a bonus twenty-five percent to my base Aura level. At level fifty the bonus Aura went up to fifty percent. I had a good feeling that this might be what makes all the hunters in training (and Jeanette) have more Aura than they should have. Unless the "NPCs", as I like to call them, have some sort of arbitrary numbers stuck to their stats and don't level like I do.

I don't know anymore, but I'm not too concerned.

My Aura isn't the only thing I've been power-training during the week. My **Summon Elemental** hit level seventy-two yesterday, and I'm getting excited when it comes time to prestige it. When it does hit that first cap, I'll be celebrating by making contracts with the other elementals.

Observe hit level fifty-five, but nothing really changed at all about it. Aside from a little extra snark.

The three big things so far are the increase in my personal level, the three hundred thousand I've made this week, and the thirty-five extra men I've hired. I was already close to level thirty-nine when I completed that story mission last week, so I decided to push my men a bit harder for the extra two levels. I gave them a small break here and there by finally using my **Find Instant Dungeon** skill (I've been avoiding it because I was still kinda sulking from the massive nut shot my ability gave me), to search for Grimm to fight during the day. I also noticed that I've begun to slow down a lot with my stat gains by using the training method to get the free points in strength and dexterity. I'd all but given up on dexterity since it was one of the skills I put my actual points into.

The extra hired men I hired during my training also helped ease some of the stress for the others, and twenty of them were even skilled sailors!

Speaking of the men I hired, I've hit the "official" member cap of my Guild. A good size of sixty-five thanks to the base thirty and the thirty-five extra space I had granted to me thanks to my bounty. I gain five more member openings for every five-thousand bounty I acquire, it would seem. I can still fit thirty more thanks to my title, but I didn't want to hire any more than that just in case I needed to switch my title out. I didn't know what would happen to the extra's I'd hire, and I didn't feel like testing it out. I am starting to near my goal, and I don't need too many distractions right now.

But, back to the dungeons, I found a few dungeons out in the wild using my skill and my minimap, most of it was kinda trash quality with a slightly harder Grimm acting as the boss. Sure it was a great way to level a few combat skills, and more importantly level up my Aura, thanks to the sheer number of Grimm, but I got nothing substantial in terms of items from it.

I did create two brand new Aura based skills. The first skill, the most basic but I figured had some interesting applications for the future, was called **Aura Bolt**.

 **[Aura Bolt Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **One of the most basic of all outward Aura attacking skills, although oddly it is extraordinarily rare for any Hunter or well-trained individual to utilize it. It seems people forgot about this skill, but where do you think civilization today got the concept of energy attacks in their cartoons?**

 **-Increases attack power with higher INT.**

 **-Max range of 10 meters.**

I'll have to see if it was possible, but I hoped to add elemental effects to it when I can get the chance to do so. I might be able to make Cinder green with envy by lobbing fireballs around like it wasn't even something special in this world.

The second skill is named **Spiral Aura Bolt** , I created it when I was just messing around with my ability, to be honest. I really just needed a good hard hitting move to use in case of emergencies. It even had the same effects.

 **[Spiral Aura Bolt (Active) Lv1: EXP: 0.0%]**

 **A skill created from the memory of Roman Torchwick, an immense amount of Aura is gathered into a single attack and spun rapidly to increase its penetration power.**

 **-20% Defence penetration.**

 **-600% Attack damage increase.**

 **-4 Second spin time.**

 **-Depending on the user's wish, it is possible to spin the attack up to 10 seconds.**

 **-There is an additional attack damage increase as spin time increases.**

 **-The more MP used in the skill, the stronger it becomes.**

 **Cost: Varied.**

Both of these were honestly just Jee-Han's **Energy Bolt** and **Spiral Energy Bolt** from the comic with a slightly different name. In the dungeons, I ended up spamming these skills, **Bind** , and also leveling up **Far Strike** instead of using my conventional weapons. Getting them higher leveled now was probably a good idea and it's not like I didn't have basically unlimited Aura when the Grimm commonly dropped Dust for some inexplicable reason. My **Aura Mend** didn't care about quality.

Things changed for me dungeon wise when I entered one of the dungeons close to Vale's wall. Going inside that dungeon led me into an area that closely reflected the forest I just left, and in it I found _a lot_ of higher leveled Grimm, mostly level thirties whereas the other dungeons had low-level twenties, roaming around like typical RPG mobs. They gave some pretty good EXP and interesting drops like **Ursa Claws** or a **Boarbatusk Tusk** (finally got my first health potions too!). I still wasn't sure about what to do with these Grimm parts, but I stuck them into my inventory anyway. I could hang them over my fireplace or something.

But the supposed big bad of that place is what really drew my attention if I was even able to see it. Towards the middle of the dungeon, things got a little harder, not too much trouble for me but it _was_ a noticeable change in tempo. I stopped before I entered a strange clearing, figuring that doing that would prompt the beginning of the boss battle of this place and I wanted to know what I was about to get into.

I eyed the clearing and noticed something interesting, or some things I should say. Four Nuckelavee Grimm, all level sixty-five, were patrolling around the clearing. I remembered this Grimm from volume four, although these looked quite a bit smaller than the one in the show. They didn't stray far from the center of the clearing, which I noticed had a fancily decorated chest covered in moss.

My gaming instincts were screaming that that chest had something very awesome in it, and I needed to have it.

But I held myself back as several red flags were popping up in my head like I had developed Spider-Sense (I kinda did, but it doesn't really tell me anything specific like Spiderman's can). Greed was the downfall of many a gamer, and I don't think I have any lives beyond this one. The first red flag, and a major one, in my opinion was the fact that the second I peeked over the bush all four of the Grimm looked directly at me. They didn't move to attack or stray from their patrolling, but they did glance at me.

The second red flag came when one of the Grimm strayed close enough for me to spot its name.

 **Lv65 Nuckelavee Minor**

A minor. That implies that these were just the pre fight before the main event, so to speak. Like those weaker mobs, you have to sometimes fight just before a boss fight in an MMO. And the name gives a good indication on why they looked smaller than the Nuckelavee in the show, they were obviously younger and weaker.

There is one interesting thing of note about the Grimm's name I saw. It had a bronze stylized head of the Grimm dragon from volume three just behind its level. It reminded me of elite or rare mobs from World of Warcraft, and if the bronze was any indication there had to be two more levels above that. I took a glance at its stats when I noticed the bronze, I didn't notice anything odd about it. It had some good strength and vitality sure, but nothing super extravagant. I wasn't sure what to make of it.

The third red flag was the simple fact that my **Sense Danger** skill kept on giving me a pop-up and even leveled up by five levels during the short time I spent staring out into that field.

Yeah, fuck that noise. I'll have to come back once I've gotten a lot stronger. So I left that dungeon and marked it on my map for future reference. I only completed a few more dungeons that day, deciding to instead take the rest of the day off. Even I needed some time to myself to unwind.

* * *

I leaned back in my plush and very comfy couch and kicked my feet up onto the small table in front of it, taking a nice and long drag of my cigar. Right now there is a small amount of rare peace and quiet in my warehouse and I was using it as a chance to think in peace.

I'm having a pointless debate with myself if I should buy the boat now, or wait until I was six hundred thousand richer.

On one hand buying the boat now means that there is less chance that Walter won't sell it to the person who offers a very sweet deal. Walter may be a nice guy for a criminal, but he still operates on money and money alone. Plus, there's the fact that my more sailor experienced men can look it over and get familiar with the boat before we set sail for Vacuo.

The other hand, something could go wrong and I might need the money for something else. It's a weak argument and not one I can really buy into. Honestly, I think I'm just procrastinating at this point.

I sighed to myself and leaned over to tap my cigar over the ashtray sitting next to my feet before sticking it into my mouth once more. I pulled out my scroll and tapped on the screen a few times. The scroll rang for a few seconds before the call clicked through.

" _Ah, Roman! How ya doin'? Got the money for the ship already?"_

I snorted, straight to business like usual, "Yeah, I do. I can drop the money off tonight. How long 'till you can get it over by my warehouse?"

There was humming coming from the other side of the call and I had the strange image that Walter must be stroking his chin, " _Got it movin' around ta keep it all inconspicuous an' all. I can place a call and get it over to ya by tomorrow, two days tops."_

"Sounds good then, I'll come by later tonight," I replied. After a small exchange of pleasantries we hung up the call and I was left to my thoughts once more.

Specifically, what was I going to do in Vacuo, beyond finding Neo and dealing with Raven's tribe and all. I've looked up Vacuo and what I could do to expand my criminal empire there in the future. And it turns out... Nothing. Vacuo is already mostly lawless outside the direct influence of Shade Academy. So selling illegal goods is rather pointless, and other criminals would've already had strong operations going there already.

To be honest, I don't think I should be trying to expand myself in Vacuo, at least not right now. I should consolidate my power here in Vale first, build up my guild and all. Vacuo isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I watched as smoke drifted up to the ceiling and thought to myself, " _I should think about making a hideout somewhere in the forest. In case this building gets compromised at some point. I should work on getting Bullheads first, to transport cargo and men."_

I really do need to get some Bullheads, it would make train robbing or stealing Dust shipments from sea ships viable methods of crime.

For now, I think I'll wait until nightfall to go buy that ship, then I'll finally do something that I've been wanting to do for a while.

* * *

The van came to a stop before Walter's place of operations and I quickly stepped out. I shut the door behind me and my henchman quickly rode off to find a place to quietly park, I myself began my journey to make my largest purchase so far in the underground world. As I knocked on the door I couldn't help but contemplate on how far I've come in this world.

Sure, my success is only thanks to the ability I somehow managed to obtain, but I still had next to nothing of note in my name. Now, I had my own criminal network and gang and was working my way up to the top of Vale's local kingpins.

The door guard let me through and I made my way through the various stacked boxes of illicit goods. I ignored most of the other criminals, they were either small time pickpockets, hired muscle, drug dealers, or just some of Walter's patrolling thugs keeping things as orderly as possible. None of the big timers were here tonight it seemed.

After making my way through I wasted no time and ascended the plush carpeted stairs that lead straight to Walter's overlooking office. I had no doubt that he had already seen me, he always keeps a watchful eye on things through the one-way glass panel. I slowly made my way down the rich looking hallways of the upper level, I wasn't in too much of a hurry.

Before I came to the door to Walter's office I stopped in front of a large portrait of the man in his younger years. He had a mischievous grin in place like he had just robbed you blind and you just haven't noticed it yet and was sporting a fancy suit and long coat.

I raised a single finger up into the air and tilted the painting just so.

Smirking to myself I made my way in front of his door and knocked on it with my cane.

"Come on in, ya little whippersnapper," was the muffled reply.

I opened the door to the office and was met with the sight of the old man himself drinking from a glass of scotch. His wrinkly face stretched into a grin when he caught sight of me. I've always liked Walter since the day I first met him through Junior. He always had a smile on his face and was willing to do business completely relaxed, almost makes me forget that he is the top criminal in Vale.

"Fancy suit, fancy office, lots of hired staff, _and_ a glass of scotch on the rocks? You're like every stereotypical rich man in the movies. I bet you even have a garage full of luxury cars with beautiful women lying on them hidden somewhere around here," I smirked as I took my hat off and hung it on the hat rack near the door.

He raised his glass to me in a toast, "If ya got it, kid, flaunt it. That's been my motto ever since I started my career path and built all this up, and I'd say I've done a damn good job so far."

"A single place in Vale's underworld where everybody can get everything, and make it damn near impossible to get them through other means? Yeah, you've done a good job, shame not everyone thinks that way," I replied as I strode across the room and took a seat in one of the comfy leather chairs before his desk. I took a cigar out and offered it to Walter, he took it and lit it with a match he pulled from somewhere.

I pulled out my own cigar and lit it with a match he gave to me.

"Aye, young upstarts is what they are. They don't like having a single place for criminals and other unsavory types to get things, at least one place not in _their_ hands. All business and money these days, no time to make room for class or style." He pointed at me with his lightly smoking cigar, "That's why I like ya kid, ya seem to actually appreciate this kind of style and are even willing to entertain an old man's pleasantries when we meet face to face."

I shrugged and blew out some smoke, "What's a criminal without style? Just regular thugs, or even worse, bandits."

Walter nodded, "Aye. Which I why I'm askin' why are ya goin' to Vacuo right now. Heard through the grapevine ya needed somethin' that brutish lot had."

I didn't surprise me he had some knowledge of where I was going, he and Junior were pretty close.

"I'm looking for someone special to recruit, a good partner in crime and not some run of the mill mook I'd bring with me to do some heavy lifting. Turns out those 'classy'," I did an air quote, "people seem to have her in their midst. Going to try and see if I can bring her over to my side, if not then I'll just have to leave without."

Walter nodded and stared at the ceiling, sighing wistfully, "A good partner will take ya far in this world, kid. I remember my old partner in crime, he was one hell of a shot while I could barely hit the side of a building with a gun. We were already the best of friends before we began this venture into crime. We met during the Great War, fighting as one of the soldiers alongside the King of Vale himself as he led us to victory in Vacuo."

I hadn't known Walter was that old… he would have to be at least ninety-eight if he fought that battle when he was eighteen.

Walter shook his head, "Anyway, he died a decade ago. Natural causes, in his sleep. But enough of that, I think I've depressed myself enough. I've already sent the call to bring that ship of yours over, just place the money on the desk."

I didn't say anything and just pulled a briefcase out of my inventory, I pre filled it before I left my warehouse so I wouldn't have to use time punching in numbers. Plus, it made the whole thing feel more official than just pulling out straight up money.

After counting out the money Walter and I relaxed and talked past our cigars until it was time for my own personal operation tonight.

* * *

The ground broke and shifted in front of me as a tunnel was slowly excavated by my elemental.

"How close are we to the underside of the bank?" I asked Rumble.

" **Close. Only three meters until we arrive in front of the box,"** he replied as I used **Aura Mend** to top up my Aura.

I nodded for no reason in particular and just continued to wait patiently for Rumble to do his thing. I came across this idea of robbing a bank swimming in my head for a while now, but the issue of actually opening the vault door was my major concern. I spent a long time just trying to come up with different ideas on how to open one, even going so far as to think about placing bombs, until I had an epiphany.

I summoned Rumble in physical form and asked if he could manipulate metal.

" _Rumble, can you affect metal? Like, bend or move it around?"_

" _ **I do not understand the question. What is 'metal'?"**_

" _Uhh," I paused then pulled out a random crowbar I had stuffed in my inventory, "This. This crowbar is made up of metal."_

 _Rumble looked at the crowbar, his rocky face not shifting in the slightest. He turned his gaze back at me and said,_ " _ **Yes. This… 'metal' is from the earth. I can move it if you desire."**_

I pondered that conversation for a while after that. In other games or works of fiction I've read, there were sometimes other kinds of elementals. Take for instance a 'metal elemental', they would only be able to manipulate metal and not earth. Same in reverse, an earth elemental wouldn't be able to affect metal beyond using earth to strike at it.

If Rumble was able to utilize metal, then the elementals I'll be able to use had more than one sphere of influence. I know there are some types of materials that aren't specifically one type of element, so I don't know if two or more elementals have to work together to manipulate it or if it defaults to the element it relates to the most.

" **We have arrived."**

I snapped myself out of my thoughts and stared up at the ceiling, I grinned to myself and muttered, "This is almost cheating." I looked at Rumble and nodded, "Do it."

The ceiling collapsed and dust dissipated through the small tunnel, I coughed and quickly jumped out and Rumble just phased through the floor as he was still invisible and not fully materialized into the world. I stood before the large vault doors and wasted no time to once more gave Rumble the go ahead. Rumble held out a single rocky arm and the vault door shuttered and crinkled into itself.

I could feel the drain on my Aura, this was much more Aura intensive than just plain rock. I popped another **Aura Mend** and eagerly waited as the vault doors finally collapsed into itself. Rumble flicked the door to the side and I strode through the gaping opening like I owned the place.

I could feel my pants tighten as I gazed upon the Lien and other fine things that had to be stored in the vault boxes. "Hot mama…" I said to myself and began my looting.

In straight up Lien, I had to have nabbed at least two million, which is pretty good as I'm sure most of the Lien this bank company is being kept somewhere else. I could probably find out where the central location is some other time. I didn't have the time to count up what I'd stolen in material goods as I'm sure the silent alarm has gone off when the vault door was forcefully opened.

I jumped through the opened vault door and pulled out a can of orange spray paint, shaking it and I headed to the nearest wall. I spray painted "Roman Torchwick was here, thanks for the donation!" in large bold letters and even added my emblem to give it something extra.

I jumped through the floor's opening and said, "Close it up Rumble, it's time to get out of here."

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for this chapter! The Vacuo Arc starts next chapter and I hope to see you there!**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 41 (Next Level: 12,070/85,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,764**

 **MP: 5,391 [3,478 + 173.9(5%) + 1,739(50%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 25**

 **Lien: 2,418,690**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	13. Chapter 13

**(A/N) Greetings once more.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 13**

Walter managed to get the ship over to me the day after our little exchange, which I appreciated. I still had plenty of time to get things done, but the more time I had the better. The rest of the day was spent letting my more seafaring minions get acquainted with the ship itself while I had the manual that came with the ship copied a few times. One for me to absorb, got myself a **Sea Vessel Mastery** skill there, and plenty of backups placed in different areas of the ship. Just in case.

Things were quiet for the rest of the day and I decided to give most of my men the day off thanks to the success of my bank robbery the previous night. The entire day following my robbery had the news networks blown up with activity and my hasty spray painted calling card was spread all over Remnant's equivalent of the internet. My bounty even increased by twenty thousand.

I felt a good deal of pride in that.

The next day had come around pretty quickly, and I decided we should leave during the day after everyone I was going to bring along had enough rest. I stood at the pier and watched as some various cargo and empty wooden boxes (You never know when you'll need them, though I questioned the choice in the material) were being loaded into the ship as a couple of my men were hanging off the side of it and painting a new name over the old. I pulled the cigar from my lips and blew smoke into the air.

"Jerry, while I'm gone I'll be leaving around twenty men with you to guard the warehouse," I stated as I continued to watch some last minute cargo being loaded.

"Alright boss, anything else you need us to do while you're away doin'... whatever?"

I hummed in thought as I tapped my cane rhythmically on the ground, I shrugged as I glanced back at Jerry, "Keep constant combat practice going on, you guys really need it. Also, try and not draw any attention to yourselves, you won't have enough men to protect yourselves and the warehouse for long while I'm in Vacuo with the rest. That means laying low and no robberies unless you are one hundred percent certain it won't draw unnecessary attention, with no room for error."

Jerry nodded and saluted, "Aye boss, I'll have all of us trained up in no time and I'll be sure to keep us on the down low."

I nodded and turned back to the ship just as the last bit of cargo was loaded. I took off my bowler hat and stuffed it into my inventory, taking out a captain's hat in its place. Probably shouldn't use my abilities so openly, but Jerry didn't seem to care, or rather he's not paid enough to care. I placed the new hat gently on my head and started forward, "I'm off Jerry, you know what to do."

With that, the two of us parted ways, and I silently wished Jerry the best of luck knowing that there was a vengeful cop on the loose in the city.

* * *

 _Day one aboard the SS Dashing Rogue._

We left port and began our journey across the sea and I admit I was a little excited.

I stood on the bridge of the ship as my seafaring men moved around to do various important things that I didn't really care about. There honestly wasn't much to do at this point as my henchmen were handling the driving of the ship well enough for me to just stand around. For some strange reason, I was also still gaining experience in my new **Sea Vessel Mastery** skill despite not doing anything. Maybe it was because I was technically the Captain?

"How long until we reach Vacuo?" I asked one of my men.

"Should be about a week boss," he replied. I gave him a nod and he dismissed himself to go do something useful. A week on this ship...

I pulled out my scroll and glanced at the signal bar. " _No signal, figures. We probably just left Vale's CCT range,"_ I thought to myself, putting the small device away. Guess I won't be playing any online scroll games for a while, a shame.

There has to be something I can do around here…

* * *

 _Day two aboard the SS Dashing Rogue._

There's nothing to do around here and I can only practice my skills for so long before I just want to jump off this ship in boredom. I haven't even gained a level in anything yet.

Perhaps I should've packed a book…

* * *

 _Day three aboard the SS Dashing Rogue._

"So," I attempted to start a conversation with one of my underlings who was sitting on the bridge turning knobs and pushing buttons. "Anything new in your life recently?"

"Not really, just been doing some generic work around here," he replied.

"I see…" I trailed off, seems this venture wasn't bearing any fruit.

"I do have this weird rash on the underside of my-"

I placed a finger over his mouth and shushed him, "Let's have you keep that to yourself."

He seemed to understand and nodded and went back to work. This was awkward.

* * *

 _Day four aboard the SS Dashing Rogue._

"Ka-"

It was late at night and I was the only one awake on the ship right now, staring out at the deep salty sea surrounding the boat.

"Me-"

I was attempting to recreate a move I've always wanted to try.

"Ha-Me-"

I didn't know if this would even work. But I felt that it was my solemn duty to at least try, lest it plague me for the rest of my days. Or until I forget about it and remember to try it at a much later date.

I tensed my body as I continued to channel my Aura into my new attack, ready to unleash it on the final stretch of the technique. I thrust my hands out, one up and one down, both looking like claws. A wave crashed upward dramatically, spraying me slightly with sea water.

"Haaaa!"

My arms were outstretched and I released the energy I was holding back into one single attack.

 _Poof!_

A tiny amount of smoke gently poofed from my hands.

 **You can not learn this skill!**

 **300 INT required!**

 **150 WIS required!**

"Damn," I muttered to myself, dismissing the blue pop up. I wasn't too disappointed, however, the message gave me hope that I can learn the skill in the future. It might take a while, but I was confident I can get the stats required. The wait would make it all that much sweeter when I finally reach that point.

In any case, I took out my scroll and typed the numbers needed for the Kamehameha wave into a note on my scroll. I can work out how many levels I'll need to gain before I can learn it later.

Right now I need to see if I can become invisible, or at least go chameleon.

* * *

 _Day five aboard the SS Dashing Rogue._

After last night's various attempts to create an invisible skill I finally succeeded. Sort of.

Turns out total invisibility was beyond my ability to create at this point in time. But, during my many attempts, I did manage to accidentally make myself go chameleon a little bit. So it wasn't all bad. The new skill didn't let me go invisible, it just let me blend in with the background. It was expected, of course, so I wasn't mad. The chameleon probably wouldn't pass by unnoticed by anyone experienced at a close distance, but in the cover of night, it should be perfect. Unless the person I was hiding from was a Faunus.

The skill was pretty Aura intensive too, perfect for training.

 **[Chameleon Lv3 EXP:23.8%]**

 **Allows the caster to blend into the background mostly unseen. Works best at night or at a bit of a distance, the closer a hostile is to your location the easier it is to be seen. The higher level the skill, the harder it becomes to be seen and the less damage moving will do to the camouflage.**

 **Cost: 300 MP/Minute**

I was happy after learning the skill and getting it up to level three. Despite how easy it was to level, it didn't seem to be as slow as **Aura** or **Summon Elemental**. Not that I was complaining or anything, I firmly believe that I deserved a break every once in awhile. So today was looking up and nothing can ruin that for me.

 **[You have come across a random encounter while at sea!]**

"Grimm! Grimm coming from starboard!" One of my men down on the deck screamed, waving his arms in the air to try and catch our attention.

My eyes widened in surprise as I read the text on the mockingly blue box and I rushed to the window to get a better look at what my minion was yelling about, a rather large shadow was making fast pace toward us. I tsked in annoyance and turned to my men in the bridge, "Get the guns ready and fire on will!"

"I really should not have tempted fate…" I muttered to myself as my men quickly went to work, one of them activating the ship's alarm. None of them wanted to die out in the middle of the sea, I entirely agreed with the sentiment.

As the Grimm got closer to the boat, and the shadow got a little bigger, I jumped out the nearest open window that was more than big enough to fit through. I yanked out Melodic Cudgel from my inventory as I fell to the deck, making sure to keep a hand on my hat lest it fall off.

"Get ready!" I shouted at my minions who were rushing around on the deck to get to any sort of cover they could find. Most pulled out some sort of pistol or machine gun, a good thing because I was one hundred percent positive that they couldn't handle this thing in melee range, and ducked behind some crates or random barrels.

Just as my minions finished arming themselves the Grimm finally made itself known, with many small explosions of seawater pitch black bodies shot out of the water like they were launched from cannons. I stumbled back in surprise as I expected a large, singular Grimm to attack, barely managing to lean to my left and dodge one of the black missiles. As it passed by I got a good look at it, the closest animal that the Grimm attacking us reminded me of was a piranha mixed with a flying fish that was as long as my torso. Its face was a bone white plate, the eyes were the typical glowing red of the Grimm, and it had two small horns jutting out of its forehead.

The flying fish Grimm chomped the air where I was previously and flew off across the boat and back into the sea.

"Biters!" One of my men shouted at the others.

Now much more aware of what we were dealing with I was able to easily duck and move around the rather straightforward pattern of attack these Grimm seemed to have. I powered up a **Power Strike** and slammed my cane into one of the Biters, they weren't all that tough as that attack drained the Grimm of all its health. This species of Grimm must rely on an overwhelming amount of numbers to take out its prey.

My men were dealing with the attack in their own way, never keeping an open back and at least try and aim before firing. They managed to hit some of the Grimm so I decided they were doing a good enough job for now.

Tossing my cane up slightly I gripped it by the base and reeled it back like I was about to play baseball. I charged up a **Far Strike** with a little more power than usual and swung Melodic Cudgel in a nice horizontal arc, sending a wave of energy out that managed to cut a good number of Biters in half.

My sense danger skill went off and I ducked on instinct, one of the Grimm flew over my head as it tried to get me from behind. I growled in annoyance and launched my cane's hook at the flying Grimm. It caught the Grimm by its cheek and I reeled the evil fish in like a professional fisherman. When the Grimm finally got close enough I turned around and slammed the cane over my shoulder, putting the Grimm between me and the floor. The metal floor of the deck bent slightly, but the Biter was dead.

I sent another **Far Strike** out into the wave of Grimm, taking out at least ten.

I doubt that we could keep this up for long, I might be fine for the most part but my men were having some difficulty. Already I could see one or two knocked out, thankfully none of them seemed to be dead according to **Observe**. We need to find a way to kill most of the Grimm in one fell swoop or, lacking that capability, be able to kill a large number at a single time.

As luck might have it the guns on the front of the ship activated, swiveling on their base and pointing into the water. A loud boom shot from their barrels and the water where most of the swirling black bodies of the Biters still in the water exploded. I grinned and renewed my attacks with constant spamming of **Far Strike** , my men even gaining some more confidence with the main guns on the ship finally joining the battle.

Together we managed to keep the horde of flying death fish at bay and I let this battle be a learning experience for me when dealing with many multiple enemies at once as the Grimm still managed to latch onto me when my back was turned.

I grunted as one bothersome Biter managed to get ahold of my shoulder. "Persistent bastards," I said as I turned my head to the Biter chewing on my shoulder.

I observed the Grimm as I haven't done that yet.

 **[Wild Biter - Lv30]**

 **A common species of aquatic Grimm that primarily dwells in the seas near Vacuo, though they have been known to roam the shores and waters of Mistral every now and then. They attack lone ships and use their sheer numbers to whittle down their prey's defenses before their Alpha finally makes an appearance. Aside from its alpha, this species of Grimm is not known for its ability to take punishment, but watch out for its bite.**

 **HP: 300**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 60**

 **VIT: 10**

 **DEX: 120**

 **INT: 2**

 **WIS: 1**

 **LUK: 5**

 **Status: Grimm (Unable to have or use MP)**

I hummed in thought as I casually brought up my cane and pointed the barrel at the Grimm's face. The shot from my weapon blew its head apart and the body fell to the deck, already beginning to dissolve. Thanks to its rather high for its level strength, as most of its stats were in dexterity presumably because its needs to move fast, the jaws of the Grimm managed to eat through a couple hundred points of my Aura. Despite its high dexterity it lacked the body type to make effective use of it outside of the water and only seemed to use it to propel itself faster, something I was happy to deal with in my own element.

 **[Aura has increased by 1 level!]**

I should started battling with higher leveled Grimm and just let myself take punishment from them, Aura seems to level much faster when in combat with the Grimm. I shrugged and cracked my neck while I observed the battlefield going on around the deck and topped my aura off with an **Aura Mend**.

" _We seem to be doing well enough,"_ I thought to myself as I launched a few far strikes here and there to pick off any stragglers.

The waters off the side of the boat exploded once more, though it wasn't because of the ship's guns. A shadow fell over me and a few of my minions as a significantly larger Grimm jumped over the boat. My eyes widened considerably as I took in the size of the beast, it had to be three times my size in length and almost as wide as I was tall. It retained the basic look of the normal Biters but had segmented bone plating around its body, didn't seem to slow it down. I managed to snag it with an observe before it crashed back into the water.

 **[Alpha Biter - Lv 80]**

 **The big boss of a school of Biter Grimm. Don't let the size of it fool you, these Grimm can be quite fast and can swallow a man whole in a single chomp. Their jaw strength alone can penetrate all but the toughest of armor, which makes them the sworn enemy of any submarine vessel that tries and invade their territory. They are much tougher than their basic counterparts.**

 **HP: 10,000**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 150**

 **VIT: 100**

 **DEX: 320**

 **INT: 30**

 **WIS: 15**

 **LUK: 20**

 **Status: Grimm (Unable to have or use MP)**

Shit, that is one big fishstick and those stats don't even add up to its level. Must mean that this Grimm, or maybe any Alpha in general, is supposed to be leagues above the normal rabble. Still, ten thousand health was a lot. Most of the lesser Biters were being picked off so I let my minions take care of them and I decided to give my full attention to the Alpha. I gripped Melodic Cudgel harder and kept my awareness up as I scanned the sea. Suddenly the water exploded on my left and the Alpha came straight at me.

I leapt to the side and smacked the side of the beast with a hasty **Power Strike** , the Grimm was heavy and I barely even budged it as it flew back into the sea.

 **[Alpha Biter's armor absorbed the attack!]**

Damn… its armor actually does something. I needed something that can penetrate or bypass its armor. I glanced over at the ship's guns, they could work but they were too slow for such a fast target. With another burst of water, the Alpha leapt onto my boat and tried to gobble one of my men.

" _Bind!"_

With a thrust of my palm glowing chains shot out of my hand and wrapped themselves around the rotten piece of sushi, barely stopping my goon from becoming fish food. Wasting no time I quickly began firing my cane at the Grimm, the explosive rounds doing much better than smacking it with my cane. My men wasted no time gawking and turned their own guns on the Alpha, our combined attacks chipping its health away.

When its health dipped by a third the Alpha Biter let out a roar and jerked around hard enough to snap my spell off its body. Before I could cast another Bind spell on the Grimm it vanished over the edge of the ship and crashed back into the water.

"Is it gone?" Someone asked.

Before I could smack the guy for the stupid comment I felt the ship lurch and a bang ring from somewhere below the deck. "Fucking fish is ramming us!" I growled as I stumbled from one particularly strong one.

As I did not want my expensive boat to be sunk during the first time I rode on it, I rushed to the side of the ship and looked down, trying to spot any shadows. I was thankful that it was the middle of the day as I quickly spotted a large shadow moving around under the ship. Not wasting any time I jabbed my hand into my inventory and pulled out a few good sized chunks of some very high-quality lightning Dust I'd stolen from one of my earlier robberies. I infused them with my Aura and immediately fast balled them into the water.

I covered my eyes as a bright flash of electricity exploded where I assumed the Grimm to be, thankful that Remnant's modern sea ships were mostly shock-proof. I did not think the Grimm was dead, I wasn't nearly that optimistic.

When I looked back down at the water I was face-to-mask with the Alpha Biter as it shot out of the water. I swore to myself loudly as it slammed into me and sent me flying ass-backward into some crates. I knocked the storage boxes around like bowling pins as I groaned from the pain of my wounded pride. I heard a loud roar and glanced up to find the Alpha falling down from the sky at me like a large cruise missile as bullets bounced off its tough armor.

I rolled to the side and let the Grimm smack itself on the metal deck.

Quickly getting up I got a new look on the Alpha, it was much more damaged than I had given it to be. Its health bar showed it was barely clinging to life and it was bleeding the black smoke that all Grimm dissipate into. I didn't want to waste time and simply pointed Melodic Cudgel at its eye and fired. The round of my cane caved in its eye and made its head explode.

 **[Firearms Mastery increased by 1 level!]**

When the Alpha finally died my men cheered in celebration as the minor Biters were already taken care of.

"Help whoever is knocked out and put the deck into some semblance of order," I ordered the nearest goon. "Then have fun for the rest of the day."

Perhaps a crime boss shouldn't be so nice and let his men party, but the Grimm were attracted to negative emotions and I figured letting small concessions here and there would be good to not attract them. Anyway, I decided to give myself a break and look to see if the Alpha gave me any loot.

I looked at the deck where the body was, trying to spot any loot that might have appeared as the body of the Alpha slowly disintegrated. I frowned as I didn't see anything. Then a blue box fizzled into view.

 **Congratulations!**

 **You have completed your first random encounter and can now claim your prize from the loot window! Tap the "Accept Prize" button to claim it now!**

This feels like one of those popup ads you get on a computer. Nevertheless, I tapped the accept button and the window fazed out and was replaced with a new blue screen.

 **You have claimed:**

 **150 assorted Dust crystals**

 **26 Biter fins**

 **1 Eau De Grimm**

Most of this wasn't anything extravagant, but that last item caught my attention. I stuffed my cane back into my inventory while searching through it to find this new item. I found it quickly enough and promptly pulled it out of my inventory. It was a little glass perfume bottle with a black little bulb you have to squeeze to spray it. Inside the bottle was a black liquid that slowly sloshed around like it was some kind of sludge. It made me queasy when I stared at it for too long so I shook my head and used **Observe** to see what all of this gave me.

 **[Eau De Grimm - Unique]**

 **A bottle of very rare perfume worn by someone with a large standing within the creatures of Grimm. When sprayed on objects it releases ambient negative emotions into the air, making it easier and more likely for the Grimm to be attracted to that location. When sprayed on people without excellent control over their emotions or minds it makes them act and express their more negative emotions.**

 **-Quality: Rare**

 **-Current sprays left: 150**

 **-Can be recharged by standing near negativity.**

 **-Can be given as a gift to a certain individual to increase your relationship level, unlocks romance with that person.**

That last bit… no, thank you. But I do have a good use for this thing, in fact, it makes my whole venture even easier.

After two more days of sailing, I finally made it to Vacuo, and I wasn't all that impressed.

* * *

 **(A/N) I'm still here, don't you worry.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 41 (Next Level: 30,560/85,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 58,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,764**

 **MP: 5,391 [3,478 + 173.9(5%) + 1,739(50%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 25**

 **Lien: 2,418,690**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	14. Chapter 14

**(A/N) Fun fact, I have the very last chapter of this story already written out and sitting comfortably in my computer. It's a good basis to expand to other perspectives in the eventual sequel of this story.**

 **And to a Guest, yes he did gain EXP from the Grimm attack on the boat, about 18k actually.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 14**

I stood on the edge of my ship's bow as my mooks brought the ship into port. I didn't give much attention to what was going on behind me, I was more focused on scanning the small seaside town of Sandyport that we were coming into. First impressions, half the place looked like a dump and the name sucked. Even from the sea, I could see slums and seedy looking venus both near the docks and on the easternmost edge of the city. Perhaps they were barriers of sorts to keep the more wealthy separated from the industry, or to make sure that if they were attacked from those coming outside the kingdom then the poor were hit first.

"A good place to lay low and not be bothered, not a place I'd stay for the culture," I said to myself, tapping my cigar ashes over the sea.

The town itself was a decent size, if a little run down here and there and there and there, and likely because of its bustling and spacious port. It was no Vale, but I wouldn't expect it to be when Shade Academy was further into the Kingdom with its own city surrounding a large oasis. As I'm not going anywhere near Shade, I never bothered to learn more about it than that.

I flicked my spent cigar uncaringly into the sea, turned around, and stalked down the ship's length to the exit ramp.

"Arthur!" I called out as I neared the ramp, my cane tapping the deck with each step closer I got.

The mook I called out rushed over to me after I called his name, nearly tripping over a crate or bumping into some of the other men working. Arthur was kinda skinny and short but, like Jerry, was one of the goons that were the first to join up with me. Therefore, even if he acts like a newbie sometimes, he still knew how to do things kinda the right way, his INT was even higher than any of my other men on this boat. He stopped bumbling around and straightened up next to me, making sure his black suit was nice and smooth. He also understood looks matter, that was good.

"Yeah, boss!" Arthur saluted me after getting himself semi-presentable.

I waved his arm down with my cane, "Put the arm down, we're criminals, not the Atlesian military." Arthur obliged and I continued, "You're in charge of the boat while I'm gone, and don't worry about paying for space, I've already got the next five months covered ahead of time."

"You planning on being gone that long, boss?"

I cracked my neck, "Planning? No. If it were up to me I'd be in and out within a week. But, it's not up to me, so I'm planning ahead. If it looks like I'm not going to be back by the time those five months end, as unlikely as that would be, then you have my permission to steal enough to get by for the next month." I pointed at him in warning, "No more than that, Arthur. We don't need to complicate things with the authorities too much while we're here, for now."

Arthur nodded, "Right, boss!"

I nodded back, "Good. I'll be off now."

With that I hopped onto the ramp and sauntered down like I owned the world, spinning my cane casually as I replaced my captain's hat with my signature bowler. The only thing I had left to do was secure some transportation out of town, an easy enough objective.

 **Minor Quest Created!**

 **Obtain transportation out of Sandyport!**

 **Reward:**

 **1,000 EXP, 500 Lien**

Oh joy, one thousand experience, and five hundred Lien, what a haul. With a roll of my eyes, I accepted the quest and continued down the streets of the town, feeling mildly amused that I was able to walk amongst citizens freely without being called out as a criminal even as I pickpocketed people without a care in the world. I'll take in some of the sights before I skip town this evening, with a vehicle traveling should be easy. It's already nearing six in the afternoon, I should have time to visit one shop before I left.

The streets got busier as I neared what looked like a market, they also got slightly less littered and more maintained. A sign that should be obvious I'm leaving the slums and poorer areas. Other than a bustling market, I didn't find anything of note in the city beyond some vendors selling Vacuoian food. Spicy food, just how I like it.

While I was kinda disappointed at not finding anything of note or value beyond four thousand Lien in wallets, it was mostly overshadowed by the awe of experiencing Remnant first hand. In the show, we only saw Vale and its surroundings, plus some minor traveling on the continent Mistral sits on in the fourth season. Sadly, I was tossed here before I could see Mistral itself, but I suppose seeing it firsthand would be better than my computer screen.

Guess I'm lucky that way.

* * *

Evening eventually rolled by and I stalked the now mostly empty streets.

I was looking for a way to get a vehicle to drive out of the city, and as I'm a criminal and I don't feel like going through official channels, I decided my best bet was to steal one. I rubbed my chin as I eyed the worn streets for anybody walking around, I could hotwire a car, but I wasn't very good at that to do it quickly.

My forty-three luck finally shined on me as I turned a corner and spotted a tanned man with antlers on his head taking some groceries out of his car. I smirked to myself before settling my face and putting my acting skills to work.

"Excuse me!" I called out, raising my hand in a short wave, plastering a friendly smile on my face. The Faunus jumped in surprise and warily looked my way.

"Yes?" He gently placed his paper bag of vegetables back into his car.

I rubbed my neck and put on a sheepish smile, "Sorry to bother you friend, but I just arrived in town and I'm already a bit lost. You mind pointing me to the docks?"

The man seemed to relax a little at my overt friendliness and even put on a smile, he nodded at me, turned away a bit and pointed in the direction the docks were, "Sure, the docks are just over th- ack!"

I slammed my cane into the man's neck and slung my arm across his chest before he hit the ground, the guy was already going to have a splitting headache and a stolen car, he didn't need a bloody nose to top it off. I gently set him down and fished his car key out of his pocket, I was even gracious enough to leave his wallet in his pocket and his groceries next to his prone body.

I'm a nice guy like that.

Not wanting to waste any more time I slipped into the driver's seat and started the car. I put the vehicle into drive, thanking whatever god or gods it was an automatic, and sped off down the street. I drove past the town's wall and followed my minimap, the road that leads towards the bandits was a pretty straightforward one, although it wasn't as well maintained.

 **[Quest completed!]**

I closed the quest completed box and kept my driving going throughout the night, using my massage skill to get rid of my fatigue and allowing me to stay up longer. Nighttime in Vacuo is actually nice, without the light pollution of the city I could actually see the stars and the moon was brighter, a constant reminder of my new world.

 **[Your fatigue has been successfully removed!]**

My hand removed itself from my shoulder as I kept my eyes on the road, just because I haven't seen anyone else dumb enough to drive alone on the road doesn't mean I won't find that person. Using some math in my head, and boy is that one hell of a change for me, I was still hours away from my destination. The car's dashboard beeped and I glanced down at it, the light that told me the vehicle needed fuel was blinking.

I sighed to myself, this wasn't even my car and I needed to refuel it.

When I glanced back up at the road I could see a few lights ahead and when I drew closer it was revealed to be a small community of trailers off the side of the main road. Lucky for me there was a twenty-four-hour station right next to it. I pulled the car to one of the pumps, stuck a nozzle into the car and went inside to throw my hard earned Lien into the car.

When the pump finished and I stuffed it back into the station I stopped before I entered the car and narrowed my eyes.

 **[You have detected bloodlust towards yourself!]**

I turned my head over to where my ability detected it from and saw a small group of six people come out of the shadows from the direction of the trailers. I rolled my eyes when I looked the group over, most of them were dirty and had stains on their ratty clothes, and they were all Faunus of various kinds. They did have makeshift weapons on them, most being crowbars and bats, with a minor few toting a gun.

I turned the rest of my body away from the car and faced the group with a smirk on my face, "Well hello there, what can I do for you?" I didn't really need to ask that, I had a good hunch that I knew what they wanted.

The apparent leader, a reptilian Faunus who also had a rifle in hand, grinned and pointed at the car, "How 'bout that shiny car o' yers, plus all yer Lien. Then we'll think about lettin' ya live."

I pretended to think it over, putting on a show with a hand tapping a finger to my chin and all. I sighed dramatically and shook my head, "No can do."

He narrowed his eyes like the thought of being refused didn't even cross his one-track mind, "We gots ya outnumbered an' outgunned, you sure ain't smart."

I laughed and slapped a hand over my knee, this situation was really funny to me for some reason, "Oh, you are just precious! Like one of those funny pet videos!"

Evidently, he had enough of being mocked and looked at the other animals standing around, he jerked his head and shouted, "Get 'em!"

I pulled myself out of my laughing fit and slowly jogged my way towards the charging group. None of them were even a threat to me, I'm not going to need my cane for this one at all. The first Faunus reached me and I ducked under his clumsy bat swing, I slammed my fist into his solar plexus and he went down gasping for air. He was barely level fifteen, didn't have Aura, and a single use of a **Power Strike** fist knocked most of his health out. I leaped to the next guy and slammed into his head with a spinning roundhouse kick, sending him flying fast into the face of one of the Faunus with a gun.

I leaned back when my sense danger skill went off and grabbed a crowbar before it hit me in the face. The other guy trying to hit me was struggling to yank the offending object from my grasp, sadly my strength was higher than his.

" _I wonder… if I can increase the height of my jumps with Aura, can I also increase my strength?"_

I pooled Aura into the arm holding back the crowbar and threw him at one of the Faunus trying to run away.

 **[Through the use of a special action, the skill "Power of Aura" has been created!]**

 **[Power of Aura Lv1 (Active) EXP: 5.0%]**

 **One of the basic Aura techniques used by Huntsmen to amplify their strength. All potential Huntsmen should have mastered this skill by their second year of basic combat school. As mastery of this skill increases, so do its benefits.**

 **Increases STR by 45**

 **Duration: 30 minutes**

 **Cost: 60 MP**

I should really look for a book about basic Huntsmen techniques used in combat schools, I feel like I'm a little behind in class right now. Hopefully, the book isn't theoretical and I can just absorb it for the techniques instead of needing to read it and put the theories to practice.

I got rid of the skill message and looked around the station while muttering, "Now, where is the boss of these animals?"

The sound of my stolen car turning on made me widen my eyes and I instantly sprung into action, leaping from my spot and landing on the hood of the car just as the guy slammed on the gas. I slammed into the top of the car when it jerked into motion and used all of my strength stat to grip my hands on the bike rack bars on the roof of the car. We flew onto the road, the car briefly swerving and nearly flinging me off of it.

I pulled myself into the most secure position available to me and raised my fist to slam it into the passenger window. I'd have done it for the driver side, but I didn't want the idiot to crash the car, else I'd have to walk. I had to cancel that plan because the stupid lizard swerved again into the opposite lane, he likely knew I was on the roof of the car and was trying to shake me off. I just kept my grip and gritted my teeth in annoyance, this was my fault for being too arrogant and not at least taking the keys out of the car before engaging in a fight.

A bright light shined in my eyes and I winced when a loud horn blared at us. The car I was hanging onto jerked in the correct lane and a speeding delivery truck blazed past us, barely missing the car. My feet flew over the side of the car and I ended up hanging on the side, barely keeping myself up. The stupid animal and I locked eyes.

 **[You are about to automatically enter a rare dungeon "Pools of Sorrow"! Press "Deny" before the countdown ends to stop this.]**

And a five-second countdown initiated, with me having no way to stop it lest I fall off the car. I just hope that the car follows me into the dungeon since I'm holding onto it for dear life. The countdown reached zero and I heard glass breaking, the world shimmered around me, the car, and the guy driving it.

When the world finished shimmering itself into something else the guy driving **my** stolen car screamed loud enough I could hear it clearly through the glass. I could understand the reason why he was screaming, the broken moon was no longer it's usual pale self and was a good ominous blood red instead. But that paled in comparison to the landscape in front of me, the cracked wasteland of Vacuo we found ourselves in was filled to the brim with pools of black and softly glowing purple crystals.

The car jerked again and slid into a sandy ditch, stopping hard enough to throw me off the car. I ended up back first into a boulder, taking out a chunk of MP. The guy was still screaming and tried to back out of the sandy ditch, sadly for him, the car couldn't get the traction needed to get out. I growled in annoyance, the idiot's screaming and fear were making the black pools ripple. I know what those are and the amount I was looking at was not something I liked to see. I stomped over to the car and yanked the driver's door open.

"No! No! Get me out of here! What the hell is all of that?!"

I grunted as the stupid guy fought me trying to pull him out, "Would you just get out of the car already?! And stop with the negativity, you're attracting things we don't want!"

I finally managed to get him out of the car and he fell out with tears in his eyes, mumbling incoherently about not wanting to die. I tsked in annoyance and looked back at the pools of black sludge, already I could see the claws of Grimm dragging their bodies out of them. I looked back down at the whimpering and fearful man and made a decision.

I took Melodic Cudgel out of my inventory and glared at the man coldly, "This is for my own good, buddy. You're just in the way right now." I pointed the barrel of my cane at him as he looked up at me, scared witless. With a pull of my cane's trigger, the Dust round tore a hole in his chest and he slumped over dead.

 **[You have gained 3,250 EXP!]**

I ignored the dead Faunus and turned the car off, might be good to save fuel while I fought. The first wave of Grimm finished spawning and I rushed away from the car to keep their attention off of it and on me. I pointed my cane at the rushing horde of regular level twenty to thirty Beowolves and pulled the trigger.

 _Click!_

"Shit, the Dust crystal chamber ran out," I muttered to myself. I power jumped away from the horde and ran across the sludge pool field with them hot on my heels. I kept my Aura off, for now, to let my Aura recharge, I didn't feel like wasting Dust for such a low amount. I opened my inventory and took out a single quality Burn crystal.

 **[Burn Dust Crystal - Grade A]**

 **Dust, one of mankind's most important tools for survival against the Grimm. In these modern times, Dust comes in many forms, from powdered to crystals, and quality. Dust quality ranges from the lowest grade, E, the type used for beginners to practice with and is practically dirt cheap, to its highest, S. S-Grade Dust is hard to purify, illegal for most people to have, and is mainly used for military hardware.**

 **When used in weapons: 150-200 damage each charge.**

 **Current charge: 120**

 **Extra explosive power effect (Melodic Cudgel).**

I put the Dust into my cane's chamber and came to a skidding stop as I turned around to face the Grimm. I pointed Melodic Cudgel at the nearest Beowolf's head and fired, the critical hit made its head burst. I slammed my cane into the face of another Beowolf, kicked off its body and flipped over the one that tried to hit me from behind. I landed crouched and immediately pointed my cane up at the chin of another, pulling the trigger and killing the creature.

I pointed at the ground and used my mental influence with my earth elemental, Rumble, to make spears of rock stab into the Grimm from under their feet. Even if my life was now a game, the world still had to live by its own natural rules and so the unforgiving rock pierced the weak hide of the Beowolves and killed them quickly.

 **[Summon Elemental has risen by 1 level!]**

" _Perhaps I should make a contract with the other elementals before I move towards the bandit camp,"_ I thought to myself. " _This is a fun way fight, I feel like an earthbender."_

I glanced back at the pools and I knew I wasn't done yet, that was just the first wave.

"Rumble," I said. "Can you grab all of the items that dropped and move them into a pile by the car?"

The various items dropped by the Beowolves were swallowed by the ground and my Aura was slightly dipped by the cost.

" **It is done,** " Rumble said, making his presence known as I let him materialize next to me.

I stood over the field of pools and watched as Creeps, one of the weakest Grimm and the same level as the Beowolves, spawned from the pools. I used Rumble to kill them the same way I did the previous wave and send their loot to the car, this was a blatant and boring strategy that continued for the next several waves of Grimm. I still kept watch over the fields, the only break from the same motions was when I needed to give myself more Aura.

"This is getting boring, is this really a rare dungeon?" I asked myself as I once again used Rumble to spear another wave of Grimm, the only thing that was different between the waves was the number. Sure, if I wasn't able to unfairly deal with these Grimm, I'd be hard pressed with the constant need to off them one by one. But this situation felt like soloing a dungeon in a video game when you were clearly way over-leveled for it.

 **[You have gained 1 level!]**

 **[Aura has reached level 55!]**

 **[Summon Elemental has reached level 90!]**

 **[You sense danger approaching!]**

I stumbled around when the earth shook. I looked at my earthy companion, "That wasn't you, right?"

" **No."**

"Thought so." I looked back down at the sludge pools and noticed they were slowly coming together to form one single pool, "Oh, dear. That's not good."

The pools didn't release Grimm at any point during this transition time, I experimentally tried firing a round into the pools but it didn't do anything, didn't even explode. Once the pools finally formed together I felt an oppressive presence fill the dungeon.

I winced when words actually filled my ears.

" **Now, this is… interesting. What is this strange power? To so easily mimic my own powers... It is nothing like I have experienced before, a novelty."**

I knew this voice. I ducked behind a rock and warily glanced at the large black pool, I think I get why this attracted her attention. Unlike back in Vale, where the Grimm spawned like they did when the Grimm Dragon came out of the mountain, these pools were more permanent and hadn't existed until now. Rumble dematerialized and stood next to me invisible and waiting for my command.

" **I know you're there."** I tensed myself slightly. " **Sadly, I am unable to see where there is. Something seems to be blocking my sight."**

I nearly let out a breath of relief.

" **But make no mistake, stranger, I will figure out what this power is. And when I do… I will remove it or make it** _ **mine**_ **, I do not like having unknown pieces on the board."**

" _Because that isn't ominous at all,"_ I thought, sweat dripping down my forehead. Give me a break, it sucks being in the presence of the main boss, even if only by proxy. " _Something big is coming, I should prepare."_

"Rumble," I whispered, "Can you make tunnels under the ground with several exit points behind cover?"

" **It shall be done,"** came Rumble's voice as he turned material and melded into the ground. I turned my Aura off to let my MP regen turn back on. I lent Rumble all of my regen and kept my gaze on the center of the dungeon.

" **But I am not so cruel, pledge yourself to my service and I will fulfill your deepest desires. You will have a place by my side when I finally rule over this world. I can not be stopped. Not by you, and not by the Huntsmen of the world."**

" _She's really laying it on thick."_ I pressed myself harder against the boulder I was behind and gripped Melodic Cudgel tighter.

" **Now, unknown piece, what is your decision?"**

I clenched my eyes shut in general annoyance at this situation and muttered softly, "I just want Neo, damn it."

* * *

 **(A/N) A little shorter than I'd like, but hey, bandits and Neo come next chapter, so hold onto your pants.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 42 (Next Level: 8,270/89,300)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 58,000 Lien**

 **HP: 2,814**

 **HP Regen: 56.3/min**

 **MP: 5,468 [3,528 + 176.4(5%) + 1,764(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 547/min [273.4(base) + 273.4(100%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 30**

 **Lien: 2,419,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	15. Chapter 15

**(A/N) Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't (for some reason) been paying any recent attention to the last few episodes of the show. Even though the episode it was revealed has already come out, I still feel the need to say it.**

 **Also, I just noticed I made a mistake with my math on the previous chapter's stat list, the MP and MP regen specifically. It's been fixed.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 15**

" **Now, unknown piece, what is your decision?"**

Well, I can safely say my answer is rather obvious. There is no way in hell I'd join her faction willingly, and not when I'm still so new to this world. Roman joins her side, _technically_ , just before the series starts and I was not about to go off and change things like that just yet. I've only been in this world for like two months, and while I'm proud of what I've accomplished in that time I'm still not ready enough. I don't wish to get into the heavier stuff of this world until I was certain I had little to no chance of dying and not completing my goal.

What that goal is, I'm not entirely certain right now. I know that I want to stop Pyrrha and Penny dying, but I don't honestly care about the rest… Thoughts for another time, I suppose. I can put it off until things become relevant.

I kept silent as I glanced over the rock I was hiding behind, the black sludge shimmered and vibrated over the cracked and dry desert ground. Rumble was nearly done with what I asked of him, the dungeon we were in wasn't super large. With our mental link, I gave him an extra instruction to encase the car and the loot in a stone dome, just in case. Salem seemed to grow impatient.

" **By your silence to my offer, I can assume you're rejecting it. A pity. No matter, I will leave this…** _ **barrier**_ **of yours. But know that if we meet, you will not be able to hide from me again."**

The oppressing presence left the dungeon as quickly as it had arrived and the black pool shook and slowly began to rise up. A large and very meaty four-fingered hand shot out of the sludge and slammed on the ground, splintering cracks formed when it dug its fingers into the dirt and heaved the rest of its body out. I gulped a bit when the final boss of this dungeon reared its ugly head. From what I can see it stood somewhere between twenty and thirty feet tall, had a slight slouch, a huge pot belly, and a single, large, burning red eye in the center of its mask.

Disregarding the various bone white plates around its body, the black stuff all Grimm were made of, and the curved spikes jutting into the air from its back, I was looking at the Grimm version of a Cyclops.

 **[Pools of Sorrow Rare Boss]**

 **Lv90 Grimm Cyclops**

" _It's got a gold Grimm Dragon head next to its name… that doesn't sound good for me,"_ I thought to myself. It really doesn't, most mobs or people in the world don't have that symbol next to their names, even huntsmen. If they do it's might be because they are extra strong, the only people I can think of that might have it would be people like Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch, and Qrow. You know, the elite huntsmen.

Hell, it could even be because they are extra important or something.

" _Observe!"_

 **[Grimm Cyclops - Lv90]**

 **One of the many types of Grimm rarely seen within the kingdoms as they are too dangerous to be left alone. Even a single one of these can turn the tide of a Grimm attack in favor of the unholy beasts that prey on humanity and the Faunus. They don't get to be very bright, even after centuries of living, as most of their focus is to be the brute strength of the Grimm. Therefore, they tend to need smarter Grimm to lead them into battle.**

 **HP: 20,000**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 300**

 **VIT: 250**

 **DEX: 20**

 **INT: 2**

 **WIS: 1**

 **LUK: 10**

 **Status: Grimm (Unable to have or use MP), Fear Causer, Unnatural Strength, Unnatural Vitality, Tough Hide, Stupid**

 **[Your Gamer's Mind skill resisted the effects of "Fear Causer"!]**

" _Good news, that monstrosity is stupid as all hell, I can use that to my advantage. Bad news, I better avoid getting hit, even with my Aura I doubt I'd survive even one of its attacks…"_

Rumble appeared next to me and I knew he was finished with what I had asked of him. I grinned as I knew what I had to do. I looked at Rumble and whispered, "Can you make a small distraction over there?" I pointed at an area that had nothing of importance because if I was going to play the Grimm's stupidity I might as well capitalize on its probable lack of pattern recognition.

Rumble didn't say anything and I watched as a human-like figure slowly rose out of the ground, the motion caught the attention of the Cyclops and it roared and charged the rock. I waited and when it's back was to me I jumped out of my hiding spot and threw an arm forward. I charged up the **Spiral Aura Bolt** and let it charge up to the full ten seconds, with Rumble using barely any of my Aura regen to remake the rock person I had free reign to do what I wanted. I dumped most of my Aura into the attack and when it finished I let it loose.

"Hup!"

My attack flew free and fast, striking the Grimm on its back. The Cyclops roared in pain as the spell did its work and finally exploded. I palmed a few Dust crystals and restored my Aura as I eyed the still standing Grimm in front of me. I grimaced when I looked at its health bar, it barely dipped by a thousand. I'd have to do that attack at least nineteen more times before I killed this beast. The Cyclops turned around and roared at me, immediately charging my location, I jumped behind the rock and slid into the hole Rumble made previously.

A quick jaunt through the tunnel and I poked my head out of another hole and eyed the Grimm warily. I nodded at Rumble and he made another distraction for me, the same one as before. I rolled my eyes as the Cyclops smashed the ground, trying to kill an enemy that didn't exist.

"I really need some stronger spells," I muttered to myself as I started to charge up another **Spiral Aura Bolt** , keeping a few Dust crystals in my other hand.

 **[Would you like to use some Dust to add an effect to your spell?]**

" _Oh hell the fuck yes,"_ I thought to myself with a smile.

I pressed the yes button quickly as my spell charged, the screen gave me a list of effects I could add to my spell. I chose Burn for simplicity's sake and watched one of my Dust crystals in my hand shatter and the pieces absorbing into my attack. The **Spiral Aura Bolt** changed itself into a huge spinning fireball of death and when it was finished I launched it once more with most of my Aura dumped into the spell.

The fireball lit most of the dungeon up, catching the attention of the Grimm it was launched at. The Cyclops turned and faced the source of the light, catching the fireball in the chest. The resulting explosion that I had to shield my face from made it fall onto its back with an earth-shaking roar of pain.

 **[You have learned the skill "Dust Mastery"!]**

 **[You have gained the title "Dust Apprentice"!]**

 **[Dust Mastery - Lv1 EXP:0.0%]**

 **Dust is a dangerous tool to use, even if it was instrumental in saving life on Remnant. Master this skill and you begin your journey to mastering the very elements of the world. Dust has different effects depending on what you are using it for, experiment and find out what each has to offer!**

 **Allows weaving Dust into clothing, failure depends on crafting skill.**

 **Allows embedding of Dust directly into your body.**

 **Allows better combining of Dust into your spells.**

 **[Dust Apprentice - Tier 1 Title]**

 **You have started your first steps towards becoming a competent Dust Wizard, keep practicing your Mastery!**

 **All Dust consuming skills have a 10% chance to save your Dust.**

 **All Dust related damage increases by 20%.**

 **You take 15% less damage from Dust and Dust related items.**

Interesting skill and title, I closed them and looked at the health of the downed Cyclops. My eyes widened considerably when I saw that my new Dust-combined attack managed a good five thousand damage. When I considered how it must be taking less damage than, say, a human or Faunus would thanks to some of its statuses, I gave myself a pat on the back for a job well done. I topped off my Aura and gave Rumble the command to try and bind it down with rock.

Earth shot from the ground and clamped down around the Grimm's limbs like restraints on a hospital bed. Cracks started to form on them immediately and I began another attack charging, using the same Dust as before. I grimaced when the earthen restraints were nearly broken as I needed to give Rumble even more of my Aura regen to compensate. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity I let rumble release the Grimm and let my attack go at the same time.

The Cyclops managed to sit up after shattering the bonds on its arms and raised an arm to smash the ones at its legs. It paused when it looked up and saw the speeding fireball flying through the air. The attack slammed home into its face, right on the eye, exploding and dealing a critical hit, doing double damage. So far I've managed around sixteen thousand damage to this thing.

I used **Aura Mend** and regained lost Aura as I looked at the smoke covering the Grimm from my sight.

 **[Aura Mend has reached level 30!]**

 **[You sense danger!]**

 **[You detect bloodlust towards your person!]**

A single red glow was the only thing I could see coming from the smoke screen, and the only indication that I should get out of the way. I used all of my dexterity plus a little help from **Power Jump** to leap to the side as a huge boulder flew past. I did the same thing once more and cursed as the Cyclops used its immense strength to leap into the air and come down straight at me, its red eye was glowing much brighter than before.

My **Gamer's Mind** kept me from staring stupidly at the Grimm as it came plummeting down, I used everything I had to get out of the way. Here and now during this boss battle, I realized that I needed more skills that boosts movement speed and evasion. Like a flash or shadow step skill for combat, for example. Really, it's just another reminder that I'm woefully unprepared for what lays ahead in the future. I can't expect to have every skill I'll need for the future right now, but I need to take a more proactive approach once this whole quest thing is over with.

The cyclops slammed into the rocky ground, sending smaller rocks flying from the impact and cracking the ground in a wide circle around it. I ducked into another one of the scattered holes dotting the battleground, getting out of sight. The cyclops didn't seem to take my escape too well, from the vibrations and the rumbling shaking of the earth I can only assume it's slamming the ground sporadically in a vain attempt to kill me. Seems like this type of Grimm goes berserk when its health reaches a certain threshold, a good thing to know.

I darted down the tunnel and headed for the exit on the other end of the dungeon. I warily popped my head out of the ground and eyed the rampaging Grimm with a certain level of caution. It somehow got ahold of a large boulder and was repeatedly slamming it home on the ground at random. If the damage from my new Dust infused attack stay relatively the same, only one more attack was needed to kill this stupid thing. Rumble didn't need any further commands, he was already creating the distraction.

I charged up one last attack and squinted my eyes at the cyclops. It was moving even more erratically than before, meaning that this shot was going to be much tougher to aim. Seeing as I don't want to spend all damn night whittling down this things health with basic attacks, or eat through most of my Dust crystals by constantly recharging my Aura every time I missed, I was putting in a lot of effort trying to make sure this one hit. My hand was moving around as I aimed, the ball of concentrated Aura wobbling with my motions.

I stuck my hand into my inventory and yanked out a lightning crystal, my attack prompting me to add Dust once it completed its charging. I didn't expect the attack to squeal and chirp like the Chidori from Naruto, I grimaced when the cyclops turned around and roared when it saw me. Thanks to its low intelligence and wisdom it simply charged me blindly, and I smirked when I realized this was a perfect opportunity to kill the Grimm without needing to aim much. When the cyclops reached the approximate center of the dungeon I let the Huge ball of spinning electricity loose, it seemed to travel much faster than its fireball cousin, striking the chest of the Grimm in the blink of an eye.

The resulting hit was similar to that of a lightning strike, one bright flash that left an impression in your eyes and it was all over. The only difference was the huge smoldering hole in the Grimm's chest that my attack left in its wake. The Grimm managed one final step before it tipped over and began to disintegrate as it fell to the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

 **[Dust Mastery has risen by 5 levels!]**

 **[Spiral Aura Bolt has risen by 2 levels!]**

 **[Aura has risen by 2 levels!]**

 **[You have gained 4 levels!]**

Good God, that thing gave me four levels?! Maybe I should be on the lookout for more Grimm with the golden Grimm Dragon next to their names, they seem to be amazing to kill. But, seeing as I haven't seen one until now, they might only spawn in these rare dungeons. I think the one I marked back in Vale was a rare dungeon… I'll have to keep a lookout for more of them.

I looked back at the dissolving Grimm, noticing that something seemed to be happening. The weird blackness that all Grimm dissolved into seemed to flow and collapse into the body of the cyclops. The black particles swirled around dramatically into a large ball the size of a desk, it shrunk and molded itself into something else. When the whole transformation finished I was staring at a large, pitch black chest. There were no decorations, no locks, just the container and the lid. I warily eyed the new object.

" _Observe!"_

 **[The Black Chest]**

 **?**

That… was it? Observe just gives me the name of the chest?

I bit my lip and contemplated opening the chest. On one hand, I did not have anything to go on, for all I knew it could be a mimic and would try and eat me the second it opened. On the other, it could just be a rare chest with awesome loot inside of it. Throwing caution to the wind I walked up to the chest and placed a hand on the lid, pushing it up and revealing the contents of the chest.

The inside of the chest was as dark and black as the outside, and it was mostly empty save for one single crystal thing that was gently floating in the air. I stepped back as the crystal rose out of the chest and became level with my chest. I eyed the strange phenomenon and used observe on it just like I did the chest.

 **[Blood of the Dark Brother - Unique]**

 **The crystallized blood of the darker of the twin gods. It is given form in a way a mortal mind can comprehend. Who knows what it could even be used for…**

 **Rank: ?**

Alright… I was not expecting something like this. Really, this whole thing reminds me of the old World of Warcraft quests where you can find some special item that starts the quest to unlock a legendary weapon. Given that this is real life, and that magic is only known to a very few select people, I don't know if this is the case. I reached out and grabbed the crystal, stashing it in my inventory. I might not know what I can do with something like this, but I'll keep it anyway and make sure I keep an eye out for something else like this. It's probably one of those things that I'll need to collect _a lot_ of before it becomes something useful, right now it's just useless inventory space. Games like to make sure you need to put in time to get something good.

After tucking it away I jogged over to where the car and items were, the cyclops didn't give anything but the chest and had Rumble release everything back into the open world. All of the loot was just things like Dust and various Grimm body parts "used in crafting". I still haven't found a use for Beowolf teeth yet. Since I got nothing substantial from the weaker basic Grimm, I decided to use Rumble to make the summoning circle. I was close enough to level ninety-nine in **Summon Elemental** and I could use more variation anyway.

The ritual went like it did the first time I used it with Rumble, only I took a shortcut by doing it with the rest of the elementals at the same time. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Earth, these were the basic elements of Remnant. It made sense because these were the five basic Dust elements that can be mined and found in the world. Synthesized elements like Gravity didn't seem to have an elemental to them.\

Connecting with all of the other elementals at the same time was an exhausting experience and it knocked me out for quite a bit. It was probably early morning by the time I woke up from the impromptu nap and I stared at the five elementals floating in front of me. After getting somewhat used to how each of the elementals worked I smiled and dismissed them into their invisible state of being. I picked myself off the ground from my resting position and dusted my suit off. I didn't want to appear before the bandits looking like I'm some homeless vagabond trying to look nice. Even if they wouldn't appreciate it.

After getting back into the car, and using Rumble to lift it back near the road, I stepped on the gas pedal and finally left the dungeon behind me. The rest of the trip was uneventful, something I was entirely grateful for, and when I reached the approximate area Junior told me the bandits were staying at I let the car come to a stop and stepped out. I couldn't see much past the large sand dunes, but then I honestly didn't need to.

"Rumble," I said. "Can you find the nearest gathering of people?"

Rumble appeared out of the sand, his body taking on a more sandman approach this time. He didn't say anything and instead just took a portion of my Aura to do whatever he needed. His smaller body reached down and touched the ground with a hand, a small ripple appeared on the sand and I stood by the car waiting. After a few minutes of waiting Rumble picked himself off the ground and pointed.

" **A large number of humans are over there, by your measurements it is a mile away,"** he stated. I nodded and thanked him as his body crumbled back into sand.

I went back into the car and made sure to take the keys out and lock it. It pains me to say it, but I can't drive it to the bandit camp. The direction Rumble pointed out didn't have any roads and the car I stole was not something that would take offroading very well. Better to keep it by the road just in case I might need it. So, I'm going to need to walk.

Half an hour in and I'm already regretting my choice. I reached the general area and parked the car around noon, so I'm experiencing the full brunt of the desert sun. Sure, I'm not going to die anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I don't get uncomfortable. I've always been a guy that hated extreme weather, I don't even like Winter or Summer. I preferred Spring and Fall, they tend to have milder weather that didn't usually get too hot or too cold. I'm just glad that I found out I don't sweat, I guess having the body of a game character has some perks to it.

I reached the top of a particularly tall sand dune and stared out over it, I started when I was hit by the sight of a tall log wall.

" _Seems like I found it,"_ I thought to myself. " _Now, which way to the gate?"_

I took a hunch and went to my left, I was pretty sure I saw something that looked like it might be a gatehouse. I made sure to travel with the lip of the sand dune just over my head so that I'm not spotted too early. I managed a few steps when my sense danger went off.

I was glad I kept my Aura on as I ducked to the side, I could feel the edge of a slim sword grind against it for the briefest of moments. I rolled rather ungracefully in the sand as I fought for purchase, turns out sand is not a good place to fight. My assailant didn't seem to share that disability as she, I got a bit of a glimpse before I tumbled down, slid down the dune gracefully and slammed a boot into my stomach while leveling her blade at my throat.

When my dizziness stopped long enough for me to finally see who attacked me I nearly laughed at the whole thing. The woman I've been looking for this whole time has me pinned under her unflattering combat boot with a rather basic looking katana pointed at my throat.

 **Lv86 Neopolitan**

Neo pushed the blade into my throat threateningly.

"Whoah whoah whoah, easy there," I said making sure my hands stayed by the side of my head with open palms, using observe on Neo because it gives me a much better read on emotions now. "I'm not your enemy."

Neo narrowed her eyes and I could see her emotions flicker on my observe screen: distrust and curiosity.

I chuckled as the blade slightly eased up, "I'm just here because I wanted to join up with your little group of friends. I might even have some skills your leader might want."

Neo didn't seem to buy it and she raised her blade threateningly.

"Stop, Neo," a new voice said.

Neo and I looked over at the newcomer, she was a short-haired woman with ice blue eyes and tanned skin. Whether that was her natural hue or because of the time spent in the desert, I didn't know. She had maroon pants, brown boots, a brown vest, a tattoo of some kind that I couldn't see right now, and she even had some sort of collar on. Really, her style just screamed bandit to me. I didn't know anything about this woman, but I'd hazard a guess she was pretty important in the bandit tribe if the way Neo acted was any indication.

The woman in question immediately retracted her blade and stood off to the side, letting the new woman approach. I picked myself up and stared down at her, she was shorter than me.

 **[Raven's Right-Hand Woman]**

 **Lv91 Vernal**

She put her hand on her hip and looked me up and down with a raised eyebrow. "So, you think you got something Raven would want? Better show me first so I know you won't be wasting her time."

Well, she seemed smarter than any typical goon or cannon fodder. But that was to be expected if she was Raven's second in command. I would've expected the maiden to be in her position, but who was I to say who gets what position?

I smirked, "Alrighty then, better prepare yourself then."

I thought about what I would show Raven in order to become a part of the tribe. Obviously, my actual ability would be off the table, but I could still abuse some of them to suit my needs. I reached into my coat and pulled a dagger out of my inventory while unbuttoning my shirt. The two women in front of me tensed a bit but I waved them off with an "It's not for you", which only confused them.

Vernal continued to eye me with her raised eyebrow, "While I'm not against the show, I still don't see how this would interest Raven. I highly doubt she'd be interested in any of _those_ services."

I just winked, turned my Aura off, and plunged the dagger I held into my heart. Vernal and Neo jumped back in surprise, eyes wide and mouth agape. I caught them in honest surprise, I'm sure that doesn't happen often. I winced in discomfort as my health dropped by about a hundred and fifty, I didn't put a lot of force into the attack and the knife was pretty crappy so I did not take a whole lot of damage. Thanks to my moderately leveled **Physical Endurance** skill I also didn't get to feel a lot of physical pain either. I yanked the dagger out of my body and felt the wound instantly close.

"So," I said, giving a slight bow. "How about we take this up with your boss? Oh, and you may call me Roman."

* * *

The trip through the base was an interesting experience, and enlightening. Really, I didn't expect much from a bunch of bandits, but, if what I was seeing was any indication, there was only going to be a maximum of three strong people in this whole base. Nearly every bandit was, at the minimum, around level twenty. There were quite a few that were in the mid-thirties and the rare forties, but they didn't look like they were huntsmen level despite the, well, level.

I guess that even with constant leveling through training and fighting, some people just can't be competent hunters.

The decor of the place could use some work, the tents were rather drab and boring and barrels and crates were all over the place. I kept an eye on one larger tent off to the side of the camp, that looked like a place that was used to store important things. Things like Dust.

As we walked by a few tents that were probably just the tents some of the bandits slept in the three of us crossed a circular courtyard and stopped just in front of a larger tent. The tent had to be Raven's, I didn't see her taking a smaller tent for herself if she was the leader. Vernal turned around and pointed at me.

"Stay here and don't move," she turned to Neo, "And make sure he doesn't move."

Vernal didn't wait for our response as she just turned around and walked into Raven's tent. I looked over at Neo, she warily looked up at me.

"Bit uptight, don't you think? We're all friends here."

Neo rose an eyebrow. Confusion.

I rolled my eyes, "Come now, just because one of us tried to stab the other doesn't mean we can't be friends. Why some of the best friendships in the world start because someone tried to kill someone else!"

She rolled her eyes. Dismissal.

"Don't be like that, I'm sure you could use some sort of intelligent conversation around here." I made an exaggerated display of looking around at the slow gathering of interested bandits, "It looks like it's lacking in that department."

Neo snorted and tried to hide her smirk. Amusement.

I didn't get to say anything else as the tent in front of us opened and Vernal came back out, standing off to the side. It wasn't long before the head bitch of this shindig also stepped out, she was wearing the same thing she wore when she was first introduced in the show, sans helmet. And I need to say that the show does not do her justice, Raven was a stunning woman in person and her legs went for days. But that honestly wasn't what I was focusing on.

"Well then, Roman, my lieutenant says you have something interesting to show me?" Raven said, looking down at me haughtily as I looked up at her name tag.

 **[Spring Maiden]**

 **Lv? Raven Branwen**

" _What?!"_

* * *

 **(A/N) And that wraps up this chapter. Hope to see you again next time!**

 **Stats so far:**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 46 (Next Level: 5,866/107,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 58,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,014**

 **HP Regen: 60.3/min**

 **MP: 5,778 [3,728 + 186.4(5%) + 1,864(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 578/min [289(base) + 289(100%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 50**

 **Lien: 2,419,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	16. Chapter 16

**(A/N) Some new cover art was given to me by someone. His name is DownSmashJon, give him some thanks. He didn't** _ **have**_ **to make it for the story after all.**

 **Sorry for any long delay, I've been busy with life. Also, a** _ **lot**_ **of DBZ Xenoverse 2 (Haha, my CaC can turn into Super Saiyan Blue now, that's hilarious. Too bad it doesn't look to count as a transformed finish… might be a bug or something.) and Yandere-Simulator. Good times.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 16**

Have you ever experienced true unadulterated shock and disbelief at what was going on around you? To the point where you block out your immediate surroundings just so that your brain can process what it just experienced? Where the world around you is comparable to a black void and you and your thoughts are the only sources of color, sound, and logic? Yeah, me neither. And I like to think I wasn't doing any of that because I am just that suave and cool-headed of a person, any skills I have in my repertoire be damned.

Now, despite my admittance that Raven is, in fact, a stunning woman, in looks only, I need to say that she is a far cry from being my favorite character in the show. From what I've seen of her anyway. When she first appeared on that train and saved Yang she caught my interest, she appeared randomly and quickly pushed back Neo, without needing to do much of anything, who took Yang out without even trying. Hell, Neo even looked downright terrified, and she's clearly no pushover. But that interest I had in her died when she opened her mouth.

 _Gods above_ did she annoy me during that conversation with Qrow. I don't hate the woman, but I hold no love for her. Being the leader of a bandit tribe and going around slaughtering villages for her own view of "The strong survive", or something like that, doesn't give me a whole lot of reason to like her. Sure, maybe that is a little hypocritical of me since I steal from people and am willingly going down a life of crime, but at least I don't go around attacking villages and bringing humanity that much closer to extinction. Plus, I'm absolutely positive there is more going on with Raven's dicking around with low lives in the countryside than I currently know. There's no way any of what I've seen so far is worth abandoning your actual family for.

Anyway, after a bit of justified angry screaming in my head (Seriously, _she_ of all people has the powers of a maiden?!), I managed to keep my face surprisingly passive and answered Raven, "Indeed, I figured it would get your attention."

"Well, you certainly managed that," Raven replied, eyeing me carefully. She's a sharp one, must think there is more going on than what's in front of her. She glared at the bandits that were surrounding us, "Go back to your posts, this isn't for your entertainment!"

The cannon fodder scurried back to wherever they came from, quite a bit of grumbling on their part, leaving the circular area in front of Raven's tent empty. I guess when you don't have much in the way of luxuries out here you try and get entertainment from whatever or wherever you can. Raven sighed softly, I barely even caught it and would have missed it if things weren't so quiet, "Come, we can discuss things inside my tent. Neopolitan, go back to your post."

From my peripheral, I saw Neo nod silently and walk away. I was disappointed at that as, fangasming aside, I've already grown fond of her being here. I briefly watched her retreat back to whatever she was doing before turning around and headed for Raven's tent. Vernal held the flap open for me and I gave her a small nod of thanks.

"Vernal, please make us some tea," Raven said.

"Of course, ma'am," came the reply as the woman closed the tent flap and went over to a portable stove.

I decided to ignore Vernal, for now, she didn't seem to be doing anything important and focused on the woman sitting down at a small table in front of me. She gestured with a hand, "Sit."

I complied and we spent the next minute in silence, the two of us staring at each other in an awkwardly quiet moment. Honestly, I just didn't know what to say. The silence stretched on and Raven finally broke it, she reached down at the floor next to her and picked up a dagger, sliding it over to me, "Prove it, this is something I need to see with my own eyes."

I eyed the dagger and hit it with an **Observe** , it was just an ordinary dagger. A well made dagger, but it had nothing special to its name. I shrugged, "Sure thing."

I did the same thing I did with Vernal and Neo, Raven didn't even bat an eye at my rather impressive chest muscles, then again hunters should have at least this kind of muscle anyway. So in a way, a toned chest with a six-pack is probably nothing all that special to a huntress, kinda makes my pride with it pointless. But, well, I'm pretty sure I didn't have much muscle before I came here, I don't exactly remember much and that's something that should scare me. I guess I can thank my new ability for not letting me panic over or even think about that bit of knowledge, and who knows, maybe I can find a way to get my memories back with it.

When the dagger pierced my heart I grunted a bit in pain, Raven actually looked impressed.

"I see that you really _don't_ die. I should apologize to Vernal, I didn't really believe her when she told me." Raven leaned in closer and eyed the dagger I kept in my chest, taking it out would make the wound instantly disappear, "You still feel pain?"

I nodded, "I do. I also don't know if I'll survive being beheaded. I think I'd like to avoid testing that theory out." To be honest, I really _don't_ know if I'd survive being beheaded, would it be some sort of super critical hit that does infinite damage or would it be like I pass out for a bit and wake up later like I slept in a bed with my head reattached? My own self-preservation rears its beautiful head and tells me I don't want to find out, and I'm inclined to agree with it.

"Indeed, it would be rather pointless to lose such a great boon like this to some sort of inane stress test." Raven leaned back as I pulled the dagger out of my chest and began buttoning my clothes after using a few of the napkins on the table to wipe myself clean, "Now, I just have three questions for you, Roman was it?"

"I'd be happy to answer any question you have, boss," I gave her my best-disarming smile.

" _She's searching for lies, or to see if I'm connected to the big web of conspiracies going on behind Remnant,"_ I thought to myself, I gave a malicious mental smirk. Thank you high intelligence and decent enough wisdom.

"Do you know Ozpin?"

I rose an eyebrow as Vernal came back and set the tea down on the table, "Know Ozpin? Of course I do, he's the headmaster of Beacon Academy after all. But personally? No, never met or talked to him in my life, why?"

Raven stared into my eyes as I took a sip of tea, it was gross, I _hate_ tea. Just a bunch of boiled leaf water. Raven seemed to be searching for something, seeming satisfied with what I said she nodded her head in acceptance and continued, "How did you acquire this… _ability_ of yours?"

I shrugged, "Honestly, I have no idea. I woke up one day in an abandoned warehouse and I suddenly had it. I'm thinking it might be my semblance?" I purposely posed that last sentence as a question.

Raven shook her head, "No, no mere semblance could be something as powerful as that without some sort of major drawback or requirement. _Everything_ has a cost, a limitation. From what I just witnessed…" Raven trailed off, looking down at her tea in deep, concentrated, thought. She looked back up at me, "Does the name Salem ring a bell to you?"

"I think I know someone who has a cat named Salem," I rubbed a finger on my chin, making it seem like I didn't even notice the way she tensed up at the name. It's true, one of my men actually has a small kitten named Salem. He likes to show everyone pictures of it on his scroll and when I asked him how he came up with the name he just shrugged at me. I let him stay behind in Vale so he could take care of it, cats are awesome. So no lying there, just not saying what I actually know.

Raven looked like the weight of the world just dropped off her shoulders, which made me think she must be really paranoid about Salem. Then again, she is, in fact, a Maiden, so maybe she should actually be scared of her. She took a deep drought from her tea and released a satisfied breath. Nothing was said for a while as the three of us, Vernal decided to join the leaf water drinking for some reason, drank in peace. I assume Raven must be thinking of my position, if she accepts me, in her little group.

Finally, she set her cup down and slowly opened her eyes, "I have thought it over and I have decided to let you join us. But," she stared straight into my eyes, "I will need to see you in action before I accept you fully into our family."

I rose an eyebrow in confusion, not really expecting an initiation test, "So what, like a spar with your men?"

Raven's laugh rang in the air of the tent, "Oh, absolutely not, I can tell just by looking at you that none of my men would even be a challenge. Only Vernal, Neopolitan, and I would be able to beat you. No, I have a raid planned for a village a days drive from here. The Grimm have been increasingly active and we've been using more supplies than usual fending them off."

"I don't think villagers would do any better than your men against me."

Raven nodded, "True, but the village does have its own huntsmen and defense force. Make no mistake, you will not be fighting alone, I will be watching you fight and there will be backup. But you should be able to meet the minimum needed to be in our tribe. Shouldn't be too difficult, just make sure you fight well and don't die in the process, simple."

Yeah, that seems like a good way to test my skills. I had to admit it was a good idea, even if I don't agree with attacking villages. It does sound like a great way to get some experience under my belt.

"So when will this test of yours take place?"

"In a week. We leave on the sixth day and rest until the crack of dawn on the seventh," she replied. "Until then you will be allowed to roam the camp under watch from Neopolitan, she will be your chaperone for the next week. You will not be allowed to visit the supply tent until it's time for the attack and you will not be permitted to leave the camp at all for any reason. Are we clear?"

"As crystal," I gave her a brief, sloppy salute.

Raven nodded, "Good, then I suggest you spend the next week getting to know your new allies. We watch the backs of our family here. Vernal will show you to your tent, I believe we have a small spare one lying around somewhere. Welcome to your first day in our tribe, Roman."

* * *

The tent I was provided with was a shoddy looking thing that was barely able to fit my rather tallish frame. Vernal said that I could get a better one if I managed to find one during a raid, they had a rule about finders keepers that only didn't apply to Raven. If she wanted something, she got it. Heh, I guess being the head honcho of bandits had its perks when it came to the choice of loot.

The tent itself was placed in an empty patch not far from Neo's tent, I guess that since she was supposed to be my babysitter for the next week I shouldn't be far from her. I wasn't complaining, this just helped my goal even more. I had a better chance of bringing Neo over to my side the longer I hung around her.

When I left Raven's tent I got a new pop-up from my ability that I received a new quest, seems that I don't get the option of turning it down. I tapped on the floating box and it expanded into a quest window.

 **[New Quest!]**

 **Banditry**

 **Raven had given you a test that you must pass in a week's time. It is a simple task of helping the tribe perform banditry on a nearby village, all you need to do is fight and not die. You really can't screw this mission up unless you try…**

 **-Reward: 10,000EXP, 3,000 Lien, full acceptance into the Branwen Tribe.**

Just as I closed that box another instantly appeared like a pop-up ad.

 **[Quest Updated]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **It seems Junior has pulled through for you and presented you with the location of this partner you so desperately want. It's too bad she's stuck with a bunch of brutish bandits, isn't it?**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. [X]**

 **-Go to Junior's club at the time he tells you to. [X]**

 **-Find your way to the last known location of the bandits. [X]**

 **-Complete side quest "Banditry"**

 **-?**

 **Rewards: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **Failure: Death.**

I sighed, closed that window too, and then continued setting up my tent. Just as I finished hammering in the last nail of my tent into the ground I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me to see Neo standing there, looking annoyed at my general presence. I didn't even need my **Observe** skill to see that.

"Look, I'm annoyed at having a babysitter just as much as you're annoyed at babysitting. No need to pout."

She narrowed her eyes at me, indignation.

"You _are_ pouting, it's written all over your face." She huffed and turned away from me. I rolled my eyes, "Ignoring me isn't going to solve your problems. Here."

I reached into my inventory and pulled out a cone of mint chocolate chip ice cream, arguably the best kind. Even if my ability is rather bullshit, I still can't wrap my head around how this is even possible. The damn stuff was still as frozen and cold as the day I bought it. Evidently, Neo is just as surprised as I was. She eyed the ice cream warily as if she was trying to see if it was a danger, or actually real.

"It's not going to kill you, see?" I licked the ice cream to show that it wasn't poisoned. Neo was still staring at it, she quickly pointed at the cone and looked up at me with a questioning face. I snorted, "I've got my ways, if I spill every secret then how would I come across as mysterious and charming? Now, are you going to eat it or are you just going to let it melt?"

She looked at me warily but took the offered treat and began quickly enjoying it, I suppose she doesn't get to eat something like this out here very often.

"Now, how about a tour? We've still got a day to burn," I suggested.

Neo shrugged and immediately started walking away from my tent. I hurried to catch up with her, not knowing where we were going.

* * *

Our first stop was the large tent that I spotted on the way to Raven's.

Neo stood proudly a few meters from it, a hand on her hip while she happily licked the ice cream cone. When I finally stood next to her side she dramatically pointed at the tent with her free hand. I rubbed my chin in thought, "So, storage tent?"

Neo nodded.

"Cool."

With that, she did an about face and went in another direction. I followed her, making sure to not run into any of the other bandits roaming around the camp. As I moved around the small crowd of people I noticed the bandits giving Neo the stink eye, but none seemed to be brave enough to do it when she could see them. Only when she moved by them and when she didn't see their faces.

I made sure to keep that as a mental note, seems that Neo isn't liked around here for some reason. Our next destination was another large tent that had the smell of cooking coming from a few fires scattered in front of it. From the opened flap of the tent, I was able to see what looked like portable refrigerators. It was obvious that this was probably the mess hall equivalent for the camp.

I eyed the large amount of meat on a spit that one of the bandits was slow roasting over a fire. While I didn't feel hungry, I never really did ever since gaining the Gamer ability, I'll admit that the food looked really good. Smelled good too.

"Cafeteria then," I said to Neo. She nodded.

By this point in time, Neo seems to have finally finished the ice cream I had given her. She looked down at her now empty hands in disappointment. Neo looked at some of the food being made and served and stalked over to where it was being passed around, seeming to not notice the stares she was getting. Since she looked like she was just going to get some more food I decided to simply look around to get the lay of the land. I noticed one of the many bandits here was sitting next to me on a barrel drinking.

"Hey," I greeted, putting on a friendly face. I don't actually care about any of these people, but I shouldn't let them know that.

He looked over at me with mild disinterest as he took a large swig of alcohol, "Hey. You're that guy that made a big entrance?"

"Yeah, I am." I jerked my head to indicate Neo, "So, what's with the evil glares she's getting from everyone?"

The other guy grunted, "We don't talk about talk about family business if you're not _in_ the family. Wait 'till you're a part of us, then we'll see if we'll tell ya."

I shrugged, "Fair enough, just curious."

That avenue was a bust, I guess I'll have to wait until after my test. Unless I can get Neo to tell me, but I'll have to get to know her a bit better. So far we've known each other for less than a day, that's not nearly enough time for her to spill her life story to me. Sad, but I guess that's real life for you.

" _For now I'll play the waiting game, I've got nothing but time right now,"_ I thought to myself as I watched Neo return to me with a couple shish kebabs of meat and vegetables. She didn't offer me one. " _I'll spend the rest of today trying to get to know her better, friendship with Neo should be my first goal above all others."_

The rest of the day was spent by having Neo show me around the rest of the camp, nothing much of note happened during that journey. I was mostly planning on which areas I'd need to place the firebombs I made in order to have the best effect. Most of which was concentrated around the storage tent, I figured that having their supplies blown up or heavily damaged would make them prioritize that over my escape. Plus, it would have the extra effect of knocking down the nearby wall that the tent was set up next to.

With all of the negativity I am going to slowly sow around this place, that is not going to be a pretty sight for everyone here to experience. It also makes a perfect distraction for a bit of sneaky thieving, I am certain that Raven has been collecting a lot of interesting goodies. Since she clearly knows about magic and the whole web of lies and deceit going on, she would be a good source of rare findings. When I left her tent I saw a locked metal chest peeking out of a stack of linen blankets and my thief senses started tingling.

Sure, I should be focusing on my main objective here, but I want to get my cake and eat it too. Getting Neo is already amazing, but Neo _and_ every valuable thing that Raven has locked away to gather dust in this infernal camp? Taking away one of her strongest fighters, basically saying that I can screw you and your whole tribe over, steal from your head boss, and get away from it all Scott free? Now, that is something any sane man who wants to spite some old twat would do.

Greed is definitely my biggest sin, and I would not have it any other way.

* * *

 **(A/N) This chapter wasn't ever going to be too long, it really just marks the beginning of Roman's time in the Branwen Tribe. I did try and stretch it so that it at least covers four thousand words at the minimum, but I didn't want to force myself beyond that. Almost seemed to work out in the end, ended up just shy under four thousand (Not including these ANs). Anyway, maybe I'll get to do one chapter a month. Who knows?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 46 (Next Level: 5,866/107,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,014**

 **HP Regen: 60.3/min**

 **MP: 5,778 [3,728 + 186.4(5%) + 1,864(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 578/min [289(base) + 289(100%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 50**

 **Lien: 2,419,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	17. Chapter 17

**(A/N) Welcome, welcome!**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 17**

 _Day two inside the Branwen Tribe..._

Yesterday was a pretty interesting and eventful day. Got an intriguing item drop from a rare dungeon, finally made it to the bandits, met Neo for the first time, and had a chat with the head honcho herself. Plus, learning a bit of RWBY universe lore since Raven is apparently the Spring Maiden. I can't even ask her how she came about that either, not without putting every bit of suspicion and attention on me from her that is. And, from a fan's perspective, I really, really, _really,_ want to know how she got that power.

It's frustrating but, well, what can you do?

Right now I'm just trying to get some rest, I woke up a little earlier because of my power's insistence on making me only sleep exactly eight hours a night. Today I wasn't having that and stubbornly clung to the blankets I had wrapped around my body. I was not even able to begin getting comfortable because a booted foot slammed into my back and made me roll over. I grunted in pain as I glared over at the one responsible.

"What the hell was that for?!" I shouted at the small woman glaring down at me with her hands on her hips.

Neo made a few gestures that I think I pieced together nicely.

"You want me to stay asleep? I can do that, didn't need to hit me," I told her, trying and failing to hide my smirk. "I'll see you in a few hours…"

I was cut off when she kicked my gut and pointed outside.

"Fine, fine. I'm getting up, just stop the kicking you little hellcat," I grumbled. Seeing that her dominance was secured Neo nodded, pleased, and walked out of my tent with her head held high. I sighed to myself and pushed my body off the bed mat I was sleeping on. I stretched and popped my back, with that small relief out of the way I walked out of my tent. Neo was standing a few feet away, tapping her foot impatiently.

"So why did you feel the need to wake me like that?"

Neo mimed eating then pointed to her wrist. She didn't have a watch on but I could get the general meaning.

"If it's getting late for breakfast then why not just ditch me to get some?"

Neo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, right. You need to watch me." At Neo's nod, I slumped in defeat, "Alright then, lead the way, Your Majesty."

Neo turned her nose up at me in an attempt to look down at me and stalked down the camp, it didn't work all that well because I'm a good head and a half taller than she was. Nonetheless, I followed Neo to the food tent to grab breakfast. It was a rather simple meal of eggs and sausage, I got the feeling that simple meals are going to become commonplace during my stay here. Already I miss waffles.

Neo and I ate our meal while sitting on a couple of barrels, watching the other bandits come and go. When I finished my food I didn't bother getting up just yet, I pulled out a cigar and lit it. I took a deep drag and let out a large puff of smoke, I think it says something about me when I smoke this early in the day.

I felt a poke on my arm. I looked over at Neo, raising an eyebrow.

Neo pointed at the cigar in my hand.

"You want to try?" I asked. She nodded and I shrugged, handing over the cigar. Neo brought it up to her face and looked it over in her hand, rolling and twisting the cigar to get a look at every inch of it. It was honestly kinda cute to witness.

She finally had enough of just looking at it and stuck it in her mouth. Neo had no chill and took a deep drag on it like I did, I snorted and tried to stop myself from bursting out laughing (I failed) when she instantly stopped and began hacking. I slapped her back a few times to help her get rid of the smoke with a huge smile on my face. When she finally stopped trying to cough out her lungs she glared at me for laughing at her and flicked the still lit cigar at my face.

With a smile still on my face, I ducked under the cigar, trying to keep my giggling under control.

* * *

 _Day three inside the Branwen Tribe…_

I didn't bother sleeping last night, with my massage skill I kept myself up all night so I could still train some of my skills in my tent. With my limited movement inside the camp, I shouldn't be sleeping so I can maximize my time to train. I'll have more freedom once this village raid is over.

Speaking of my massage skill, it's ridiculously easy to level up. Despite my other skills that should be easy to level, or just have many ways to do it, but end up taking a long time because it is too easy to do it, **Massage** just goes up quickly with no worry. Between the time I was driving to the camp and this night of constantly removing my fatigue, the skill reached level thirty-five. It also seems like it increases the fatigue per second by .01 every tenth level too.

 **Power of Aura** , that nifty strength increasing skill, reached level twenty-two last night before it started getting harder and harder to level up quickly. Now that I've actually begun leveling that skill I've noticed that every fifth level increases the strength gained by two, and every twentieth level increases the duration by ten minutes. I'm glad that the skill's strength boost gets better over time, makes leveling the skill worth it and means I don't have to focus on strength training all that much.

I'm thinking of using Rumble tomorrow night to smack me with that starting hammer I bought a while ago. I need to level my **Physical Endurance** and **Aura Mend** more, plus my vitality might increase as well. I didn't get a special skill for vitality when it went over fifty, got a bit miffed at that, but I figured I get one when it went over one hundred. In the meantime, I should just be patient and wait for that point when I get there.

When morning came Neo found me in the tent meditating, I opened my eyes and stopped when I heard her enter.

"Morning, Neo," I greeted. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

She mimed eating.

"Right," the early morning was spent eating and this time I didn't have the entertainment of seeing Neo try and smoke a cigar. Yesterday we spent the day doing various chores inside the camp. Or, well, _I_ did the chores at first. Neo was content to let me do her share while she sat around and looked pretty. I got my revenge by not shutting up and kept talking to her the entire day, asking stupid questions without expecting a reply and shooting witty one-liners every time she gave me the stink eye.

By the end of yesterday, Neo had begrudgingly helped with her share of the tasks, if a bit lethargically.

Today Neo had guard duty, which translated to _we_ having guard duty since I'm glued to her side for the next few days. From the look of it, Neo hated this job, though I'm unsure why the entire day since breakfast she kept up a scowl fierce enough to send a Goliath running back to Salem. I, personally, enjoyed it. Sure, guard duty is a bit monotonous, but I could relax a bit and let my mind wander around while I smoked since there were several other people around with us.

I… might not make the best guard.

"You know," I started, making Neo jump a bit, the conversation has been a bit dull for the past hour or two. "If you relax a bit then your mood might improve."

Neo glared at me.

I raised my hands up in surrender, "I get the feeling guard duty isn't your favorite job around here?"

She just huffed and turned away from me, focusing on the endless sand and dry, cracked ground. Did I forget to mention it was hot as balls outside? It's the desert, of course it is. I'm just glad we have some shade installed over us and some barrels of water to keep us hydrated.

"Wanna talk about it? Talking is supposed to help, I've heard," I offered.

"Hah, help? Her?" Came the voice of one of the unimportant guards with us, "With what she did this is punis-"

He was interrupted by one of the other guys jabbing him in the ribs and telling him to shut his big fat mouth. However, my attention was already caught and the need to know what Neo was supposedly being punished for weighed heavily on my mind. Sadly, I was unable to do anything about it. These people don't like talking about inner tribe affairs with people they consider outsiders. So, with extreme effort, I was able to turn my attention back to Neo and ignore the minor arguing going on on the other side of the gate.

"Anyway… about my offer?" Neo looked at me warily and I hurriedly put up, "It doesn't have to be _now_ , I'm willing to listen whenever you're ready. I know we've only known each other for a short amount of time, and I'm a patient man."

Neo still looked unsure but nodded her head anyway and I felt like that was a win in my book.

* * *

 _Day four inside the Branwen Tribe…_

I had an interesting experience while training last night.

Since Rumble needed the earth to form I had to cut a small hole in the bottom of my tent so he could squeeze through it. Luckily he didn't need it to be large, he could just move earth through the hole and make himself bigger or smaller as needed. I spent the night letting him hit me in the back with my hammer, managed to get **Physical Endurance** up by six whole levels, letting me have a whole whopping forty-two reduced damage from physical damage. I also managed to learn that leveling the skill goes by a tiny bit faster when my Aura is down. Since I want to level my Aura as much as I possibly can, I didn't feel like exchanging one for the other and just bit the bullet on a smaller amount of experience for **Physical Endurance**.

I did use my time to also level up **Chameleon** , being a skill that didn't need much from me other than spending Aura. Thanks to the fact that it is still in its early levels I reached level fourteen in the skill by the time the night was through, although the only thing affected by leveling it up was the cost per minute plus that arbitrary 'closer an enemy is, the easier you're able to be seen'. Due to the fact that Rumble was smacking me in the back, and me using Aura to level up **Chameleon** , I was able to make **Aura Mend** level three times. That skill has been slow to level up lately, so getting three levels in one night made me happy.

But while all of this is well and good, none of it was all that interesting in of itself.

Sometime during the night, I think it was around one or two, I heard my tent flap rustle and open up. I had just finished turning off my **Chameleon** spell and healing myself, so I was pleading to every god I knew that whoever just entered didn't see anything. My luck turned for the better as Vernal, who was the one interrupting me, stuck her head into my tent. Rumble seemed to have sensed her approach beforehand and made himself scarce, although to be fair he probably could've just hidden behind my back. He wasn't all that large, to begin with.

I kept my beating heart in check and made myself look as casual as possible, "Well, while I'm not opposed to a late night rendezvous with a beautiful woman like yourself… I'd like some sort of warning beforehand. Need to keep the place tidy for a lady."

Vernal, to her credit, kept her face rather neutral despite the fact that I saw a flash of surprise run across her face for the briefest moment.

When my words registered in her brain she rolled her eyes, "Keep dreaming, Romeo. I'm just here for a surprise inspection to make sure you aren't doing anything suspicious."

For some reason, I didn't feel like she was telling me everything. She had to have come here for some other reason since I've been nothing but docile since I agreed to Raven's terms. I didn't have any evidence to back that up, it was just a gut feeling. But sometimes a gut feeling was all you needed to try and get some answers.

I knew I wasn't going to get anything from Vernal, she's only loyal to Raven and her lips would be tighter than a submarine's hatch. So I just shrugged and pretended to believe her, she seemed like she believed me and we had a bit of an awkward staring contest.

"Well," Vernal finally started while looked around my barren tent, "you seem to have nothing suspicious here. I guess I'll leave you to your…"

"Meditation," I supplied.

"Meditation," Vernal nodded. She retracted her head from my tent's flap, I listened carefully and heard her footsteps crunch in the direction of Raven's tent.

I'll admit, I was curious. I gave Vernal a good ten-second start on me before I cracked out my **Chameleon** spell. I poked my nearly invisible head out of my tent flap and eyed my surrounds, nobody who wasn't on the nightly wall or gate duty was up and about. So that meant I had free reign to sneak off to Raven's tent. Since my Aura regeneration was higher than the combined cost of my **Sneak** and **Chameleon** skills, I didn't have to worry about randomly running out of Aura during my little late night stroll.

With my goal in mind, I snuck across the campgrounds, I could already feel my **Sneak** skill rising as the seconds pass. With no resistance at all, Raven really needs to work on her internal security, I finally reached Raven's tent. I could hear some muffled voices but I wasn't able to make anything out. I frowned, I didn't want this little recess from my training time to be a huge waste. Then my high intelligence stat rears its head for once, I used my Aura and directed it towards the ear I had pressed against the tent cloth.

 **[You have created a new skill!]**

 **[Listen - Lv1 EXP:0.0%]**

 **Hearing the world around you is a skill that many take for granted every day. But, there are some in the world that can take this basic skill known to almost everything on the planet and increase it by magnitudes. There is even a legend passed down that a lone monk on a mountaintop could focus his energy and hear the buzzing of a bee all the way down at the base.**

 **-Increases the range you can hear soft noises by ten meters.**

 **-Soft voices become a littler louder.**

 **-Cost: 20 MP/Min**

I could tell the difference almost immediately, I leaned in a bit and focused on the conversation happening right now.

"-didn't see anything suspicious. He was just sitting down, meditating. I don't know ma'am, are you sure you felt something?" I could tell that this was Vernal.

There was a pause, Raven must be thinking.

"I can not be certain… I know I felt something in the world stir. Like the earth was wide awake instead of just sleeping. I felt the ripples, just as before."

" _Well… that's distressing,"_ I thought to myself.

"Perhaps it comes from something else? From the way you describe it, it sounds almost like the power you command. But that's impossible, only a woman can inherit the powers of a Maiden. For the life of me, I can't see that man ever being a person with great magical powers," Vernal stated.

" _Well, hey, screw you too, Vernal!"_

"Perhaps… but his timing when I felt the first ripples was too great. I'll admit I don't feel anything from him, that was why I agreed to meet him in person in the first place, but…" At this point, Raven sighed, "Nevermind. It's late, Vernal, get some rest."

"Of course, ma'am."

I waited in a very shadowy part next to Raven's tent and watched Vernal head back to her own. Once she was out of sight inside her tent I quickly made my way back to mine, I had a lot to think about as I continued my training. For tonight, and sparingly every few days for a while, I'll still use Rumble to continue to level my **Physical Endurance** up. Don't need Raven to get suspicious that it stops completely after tonight.

As I sat back down in my tent and closed the two messages that told me **Sneak** leveled up twice, I realized that I had a lot to think about tonight.

The rest of the day was boring. Neo and I had guard duty again today and I decided to lighten her mood by telling her all I knew about Vale and some of the funny, miscellaneous things I had happen to me during my day to day while there. She seemed a little less grumpy by the end of the day, so I'll endeavor to cheer her up with more of those.

* * *

 _Day five inside the Branwen tribe…_

I gave myself a bit of a break last night, letting my mind rest is a good thing. Even if I could, I shouldn't stay awake all the time, that's not healthy. I was also getting myself ready for the village raid ahead, I needed to be in the right mindset so that I don't screw something up or do something I'd regret.

Today was a free day for Neo, who seemed to be quite chipper about that. From what I understand she doesn't seem to get many of those. Apparently, she'd be lucky to get two off days a week, normally Neo has to deal with guard duty for six days out of the week and is not allowed to leave her post for long besides to eat or use the bathroom. I frowned when I found that out from her (A lot of miming and sand writing for those harder concepts), that seemed a bit harsh to do to one of your people. Even I rotate my men around every so often and let them have breaks. Keeps morale up and makes them less likely to backstab you.

Seems like Raven didn't get that memo.

Since I'm stuck with Neo, for the time being, I am also subjugated to her rather harsh schedule. And I am beginning to understand why nobody likes guard duty now. It was fine at first, being alone with nothing but your thoughts and the occasional chatter between the other guards, but just standing there looking out at a whole expanse full of dull sand is mind-numbing. And not in a good way.

At one point in this dull day I decided that I no longer wanted to stand, I looked over at the other guards that hung out together (left the two of us all alone for the most part) and saw that none of them were paying any attention to us. I discreetly stuck my hand into my inventory and pulled out two metal, foldable chairs. I put them on the shady ground behind us and sat my butt down on one.

Neo turned to look at the small amount of noise I was making and jumped back a bit in surprise, she pointed at the chairs in bafflement. I just shrugged and said, "What? I keep a few chairs with me in case I need them, can't expect me to need a place to sit and just deal with the dirty ground." I gestured to the other one with a hand, "Feel free to join me."

Neo looked at the chair for a second before shrugging and joining me, seems she finally gave up trying to figure out how I've been getting items I clearly didn't have before. I handed her a glass of lemonade that I quickly yanked out when she wasn't looking. She took it from me with a smile and stuck the straw in her lips.

"I even added one of those little umbrellas," I said, taking a sip from my own glass.

Neo nodded, pleased with my offering of peace.

We clinked glasses and spent the rest of the day drinking lemonade while gleefully basking in the complaints the other guards were giving us. They were angry we got to sit and drink refreshing, ice cold lemonade while they stood around, baking in the heat all day. But hey, none of them thought to bring a chair or make their own lemonade.

"You know, Neo," I started when the sun started to set.

Neo glanced over at me in confusion, a questioning look on her face.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

 **(A/N) Ah, nothing like good old-fashioned friendship to start us off.**

 **There were two different ways I thought of to get us past this part of the story. The first was to do a single chapter for the second through fifth days and have each day have something different about it. For the second I'll admit that I gave some consideration to a single chapter dedicated to each day. But, that clearly had some problems with it (Other than being horrifically dragged out and a pain for both the reader and me the writer), mainly that there just isn't much to write here. Roman doesn't get to do much within the camp as he's stuck at Neo's side the entire time. But hey, spending time with Neo is its own reward.**

 **Anyway, I'm thinking of updating at the end of the month. Gives me time to write on the side, play games, and work my job. I also missed some Aura Regen, forgot the 10% from one of his passives. Oops.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 46 (Next Level: 5,866/107,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,014**

 **HP Regen: 60.3/min**

 **MP: 5,778 [3,728 + 186.4(5%) + 1,864(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 607/min [289(base) + 289(100%) + (28.9(10%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 50**

 **Lien: 2,419,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	18. Chapter 18

**(A/N) Cover art by DownSmashJohn.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 18**

 _Day six inside the Branwen Tribe…_

On the morning of the sixth day in my time here in the tribe I found myself laying on my back with my eyes shut and a smoking cigar in my mouth, just thinking. Today is the day that the tribe and I will travel to the town that will be raided, and I'm not really looking forward to it. During my time spent on Remnant I've robbed stores, beat up a few street punks that thought I was an easy target (didn't even give much experience or money so they were inconsequential anyway), tangoed with the police, formed my own gang, and bought an expensive ship that will let me travel the world.

Vale, for a single city, is an exciting place where things _happen_. Lives are made or destroyed at the flip of a coin or at the end of a gun's barrel. A place where a nobody, if they knew what to do or had some way of gaining power quickly, could begin to rise to the top of the underground world. I, for example, am basically the poster child for this type of situation.

The day before I left Vale I looked into the real Roman's past. As much as I was able to find anyway, honestly, there was not a lot to go on in the first place. When I came across a few obscure and hidden away documents on his scroll, I never took my time to really go through it since I was so busy, I found some of his basic information. His age, for example, is twenty-five. When that piece of info came to me I received a notification that said my status screen was updated with new information.

The documents I found were _extremely_ basic, like just basic health information (blood type, etc) kind of basic. I still have no idea what Roman's past even is.

So, I, as far I know, have no past I can turn to. No friends or relatives I can call on, and only my wits and the clothes I have on my back to bring myself up to the top of the underworld. I have no real connections besides Junior and Walter as I've all but ignored the other Vale Kingpins, they haven't made a move on me yet so I never bothered with them. Perhaps they think I'm too reckless, young, and hotblooded to actually hurt or destabilize their own little slice of the underworld.

Perhaps, with how I've acted so far during my time as a criminal, they think I'll be arrested before the year is through. Some stressful parts aside, I've been having the time of my life. I felt freer than I've ever known, even if what I know is rather small right now. I have the freedom to run my gang how I saw fit, choose which mission to take personally or send a group of my men to do it for me. Steal what I want, when I want. Sell what I stole and make a profit to line my pockets.

I blew out a cloud of smoke, I wasn't feeling that freedom right now.

Tomorrow I'll help a bunch of people I don't care about, lead by a woman I don't hold in very high regard, ransack a village. Sure, I don't particularly care about their lives and would gladly steal from them anyway. But this is something I'm being told to do, I'm being ordered to do this to benefit someone else. I'm not going to keep the best things for myself, I'm not the one making the decisions. What it boils all down to is that I don't like being the one taking the orders, I don't like being one of the grunts. I'm selfish, and I think I like that.

I felt a small weight settle on my stomach and I opened the eye not being covered by my hair to see what it was. I smirked around my cigar when I saw that it was Neo, the one who I've subjected myself to this brief time as a grunt for. She seemed to be using me as a chair while she crossed her arms and glared down at me.

"What?"

Neo raised an eyebrow and pointed at the tent's flap, miming the act of carrying a box.

"You want me to help prepare for the attack? Come on, that's the job of the lower ranks," I whined. Neo glared at me, she was annoyed. I sighed past the cigar and snubbed it on a nearby ashtray, "Fine, fine, I'm coming."

Neo nodded, pleased, and got off of me before leaving the tent to do her part.

I was not far behind and after a brief time to stretch I stalked down the camp to where the tribe was preparing for the attack. Now, from what I can recall in the meeting between Raven and Qrow, Raven can make portals. So, I had to ask myself why she wasn't doing the same to attack the village and not waste all this prep time. Perhaps the portals take too much energy or don't stay open for long. I don't know.

As it stands, I just need to help the bandits put empty, open, boxes and other containers in the center of the inner camp. I found it odd that we weren't loading the things into one of the camp's vehicles, but I didn't feel like asking any of the people I was working with. Once the day hit noon the last box from storage was finally set out in the middle of the camp's inner circle and the bandits and I were hanging around doing nothing. I had some small talk with Neo. Or, well, I was the one doing all the talking, Neo just nodded along with whatever I was rambling about.

She's a great listener.

"From the lack of any actual work going on right now I take it everything has been set up?"

Neo and I turned to look as Raven addressed the crowd from the entrance to her tent, Vernal stuck to her side like glue. The throng of bandits quickly moved around to make it look like there was some sort of order going on. Neo and I stayed put on our box seats, we were happy to not bother getting up.

Raven eyed the crowd and the containers sitting around, "Kerri, you and your group are in charge of the camp defense while we are away. You know what to do when it's time."

" _Well, that sounds ominous,"_ I thought.

"Yes ma'am," I heard a girl's voice said from somewhere across the crowd.

"The rest are with me. Eat and be ready to leave within the hour, we need to be near the village by nightfall," with that said Raven reentered her tent. I frowned in thought, to me, if I was Raven, it would be easier to make a portal inside the village and just let her whole tribe attack in one swift and brutal strike. Since she wasn't doing that there had to be some limitation to her portals, perhaps it was too aura intensive and she would rather not waste the energy before a battle.

It would explain the boxes in the middle of camp, a portal straight home after the battle is over and done with so there isn't a need to bring a ton of vehicles to haul the stolen goods. Only enough to transport the tribe there and then just use a portal to get back. Made me wish I had a similar ability right now, perhaps I could find a way eventually. But, that's in future Roman's to-do list.

I tapped Neo's shoulder and handed over a plate of spaghetti with a fork stuck in the side from my inventory, I have a lot of random food in there. She sat there staring at it with abject confusion before gingerly taking it from my hand, like it was about to eat her.

"What, you don't like spaghetti? I made it myself," I said. She looked up at me, her face never changing as she set it down and made frantic gestures to the top of her wrist. I shrugged, "I got it just now of course, what kind of a gentleman gives a lady food that isn't fresh?"

Seriously, my inventory is completely broken. I've had that spaghetti in there for a month already and it still came out as steaming and fresh as the day I cooked it.

Neo lost her mind for a bit and yanked at her hair in frustration before finally taking a deep breath and calming down. She eyed me warily before taking the plate and stuffed her face, her eyes lit up when the taste finally hit her and she started eating with more gusto. The cooking skill I acquired gives a chance that whatever I make has the potential to receive different qualities to it. The quality works like restaurants, you know, one star, two stars, up to five stars. The higher the star, the less the chance to get it and the higher the skill level the bigger the chance for a higher star and less the chance for a lower. I got particularly lucky when I created this batch of spaghetti, it was the full five stars.

I brought my own plate up and shoveled a forkful of the pasta into my mouth. The star quality to the food really makes a difference, somehow, and I found myself eating slower than Neo in order to savor the flavor. Eventually it was time for everyone to leave, and I watched as a several large, tarp-covered trucks were uncovered from their parked spots near the camp's entrance. Funny, I never noticed that they were even there to begin with.

Raven and Vernal entered one of the trucks, and Vernal waited for vehicles to be filled with the bandits filing into the back of each truck before driving out of the camp. The truck taking Neo and I followed right behind hers, I'll admit that this was a bit of a tight squeeze with all of these people shoved into the back of trucks. That, along with the desert weather, made this trip uncomfortable and longer than it should be. Raven, Vernal, and the drivers were lucky, they got air conditioning.

Neo didn't seem to mind all of this all that much, in fact she seemed downright giddy.

I rose an eyebrow at her unusual behavior, she was much more hyper than she usually was. Maybe she was stir crazy, being constantly subjected to guard duty and the occasional day when chores were needed to be done over guarding had to be mind-numbing. It just made me want to know what the deal with this whole situation was even more, a simple trip outside the camp shouldn't make a person _this_ happy. A chance for combat and stealing things notwithstanding.

After eight hours of driving the small bandit convoy finally came to a stop behind some rocky outcroppings not too far from the village we were going to attack. The drivers made sure to keep off the road and out of sight, it was easier with the setting sun.

Raven was one of the first out of the trucks, she turned and addressed the rest of us, "Eat whatever you brought quickly and no fires. We attack before dawn, I don't think I need to tell you to get some rest. I'll personally deal with whoever risks the lives of their fellow family members because they didn't get enough sleep."

I handed Neo a blanket once dinner was done, she blinked and nodded at me gratefully. Nights in deserts were very cold, it was the least I could do. I settled down next to her with my own blanket, my back against one of the large boulders. I was not looking forward to sleep against a rock, I just know that I'm going to need my massage skill in the morning. I smirked to myself, I know that Neo is going to feel just as back, if not worse, because thanks to my **Gamer's Body** , my body doesn't work like a normal person's does. I bet I can bring her to my side with just my **Massage** skill.

With those amusing thoughts in my head I drifted into a soft slumber.

* * *

 _Seventh day in the Branwen tribe…_

I was woken up before the attack by one of the bandits going around and shaking any sleeping members. Neo nearly bit his hand off when he did the same to her, he screamed like a girl and leapt back in fright much to the amusement of everyone else in the camp. The unlucky tribesman grumbled curses under his breath and went back to waking others up.

I patted Neo's head, "Down girl."

I yanked my hand back when she tried to bite it, not an early morning person I see.

As for me I didn't feel too tired and just stretched and massaged my sore back, thanks to my unique body the pain from sleeping against a rock went away within minutes. I offered Neo a granola bar as a peace offering by shoving it into her peripheral, she took it without even looking in my direction. After a light breakfast everyone gathered back into the trucks, a select few were standing up with rocket launchers at the ready.

I felt a tug on my sleeve.

I looked in Neo's direction and she mimed something at me, it involved a lot of pointing at me and back at her.

"You want me to stick with you?" I asked.

Neo nodded and pointed over at Raven's truck.

"Raven's orders, then," at Neo's affirmative nod I gave her a smirk, "Well if it means that I gotta put up with you then I don't mind following these orders."

Neo smirked back at me and I looked back at Raven, waiting for when the attack will commence. I watched as she raised a hand in the air and flicked it forward, that was all the incentive the others needed. With hoots and hollers, the trucks sped forward, bouncing on every bump in the ground and kicking up dust. The barest tinge of color on the horizon said that dawn was not too far off.

We were at the halfway mark when I heard an alarm going off from the town, it seems that whatever sentries they had spotted us. In retaliation the rocket launcher holding bandits raised their weapons up and fired at the town's closed gate. The rockets reached the gates long before we did and exploded, causing the gate to come crashing down in shattered splinters. A couple of guards managed to form a line where the destroyed gate was and began firing in our general direction. Most of the bullets either missed entirely or pinged off the side of a truck.

The drivers didn't even slow down, and once they finally reached the gates the town guards had to dive away lest they be crushed by vehicular manslaughter. The trucks came to a sliding stop inside the gate and every single bandit jumped out of the trucks and began spreading out to commence the attack on the town. I jumped out alongside Neo, my cane appearing in my hand as I fired the rounds at the town's guards. They were strong enough that even with aura the headshots I was aiming for managed to knock them out. Critical hits are not to be messed with.

I silently activated my **Aura** and **Power of Aura** in preparation. I followed Neo as we went down one of the side streets, attacking anything that attacked us. We largely ignored the screaming and running civilians that all looked to be running towards the town center, probably where a safe shelter was located and the location of the final push in taking the town.

One of the defenders tried to ambush me from an alley, I stepped back and let the man sail past me. I stuck a foot out and watched as he tripped over it, not wasting a second I sent a **Power Strike** with my cane into the back of his head. The heavy blow knocked him out, Aura can only do so much to protect you from blunt force and the head was the weakest area to strike to the unprepared. I glanced over to see how Neo was doing and from the way she was eyeing the town Neo didn't look like she was interested in looting, she just seemed interested in seeing someplace new.

"I don't think we're going to find many of the fighters over here," I commented. Neo seemed to snap out of sightseeing mode and glanced over at me, nodding in agreement.

 **[You sense danger!]**

I widened my eyes as my danger sense went off and jumped to the side to avoid the surprise attack. The weapon of my assailant just missed me by a hair's breadth and slammed into the street, a large metal club caused the street to crack and fissure. If that had hit me you could kiss most of my Aura goodbye. I came to a sliding stop a few meters from Neo, who was eyeing the newcomer warily.

He was a beast of a man, easily seven feet tall and every inch of him was corded muscle. If he didn't have a large metal club in his hand, and an **Observe** told me it mecha shifted into a cannon, I could have mistaken him for a bodybuilder. The man picked the hammer from the ground like it weighed no more than a stick and rolled his massive shoulders, making the cape like looked suspiciously like a lion's pelt bounce.

"You know, it's way too early for this kind of shit. Do you bastard bandits even know what time of the day it is? By the brothers…" he grumbled past his thick black beard as he rested his weapon on a shoulder.

 **The one whose Strength can move mountains**

 **Lv92 Iraklis Eracle**

" _Oh, joy. A hunter,"_ I thought to myself. " _And he has a silver Grimm Dragon next to his name as well."_

 **You have entered a boss battle!**

 **You can win this encounter by:**

 **Killing**

 **Knockout**

 **Or Iraklis flees**

" _This is going to be a pain, this guy's strength is off the charts for someone of his level, this can't be something he got through training. His vitality is not unrealistically massive and, while it not be as high as mine, his dexterity is nothing to sneeze at either. Neo and I need to be careful here."_

I glanced over at Neo and she nodded at me, she has my back.

I flung several **Far Strike** attacks at him as a distraction, his club caught each of them in a surprising display of speed and precision. But it was enough as Neo appeared behind him and slammed a boot into the back of his shin, he grunted and went down for a second but still swung his club to try and knock Neo away. Her body shattered into pieces and I got my first glimpse at her semblance.

I didn't have time to gawk, I was already firing my cane as I ran towards the larger man. The shots that hit him made him grimace, the damage from my cane's range attack was no joke. Iraklis got back up from Neo's hit and swung down at my head, I shifted my body to the side and moved just enough to let the club miss. I rode the shockwave from the club slamming into the ground, rising into the air and hitting the hand that held the club with my cane. He just grunted and swung the club back at me.

I held my cane by the handle and base and guarded his retaliation, I didn't even try to completely block the attack and instead just deflected it a bit and let it fling me away. I flipped in the air and landed on my feet while taking a look at my status screen, I still took a whopping five-hundred damage from that, but it was better than the full hit. Neo suddenly shattered into reality and slammed her knees into the side of his face, making him reel back in surprise.

Iraklis spat some blood into the ground, "That semblance of yours is mighty annoying little lady."

His club sliced through the air and attempted to brain Neo, she leaned back away from the strike like she was playing limbo and back flipped out of his range. I fired more shots from my cane at the beast of a man while he was focusing on Neo, Iraklis growled in annoyance and leaped straight at me. I dove forward in a roll as he came crashing down in the spot I was just at and used **Power Jump** to get on top of a nearby house.

I continued to fire my cane down at him a few more time before he leaped back at me again, this time his club sheared off part of the house's roof in a explosion of wood. I grunted in annoyance and threw a Burn Dust crystal into his face before firing my cane at it, I could see his eyes widen when the round hit the crystal and the whole thing exploded in an inferno. The explosion launched me off the current building and on to the neighboring one, taking a large chunk of Aura off of me.

I picked myself up and warily watched the burning house in front of me, making sure to replenish my Aura. When the flames parted and the large form of Iraklis shot out of it with a roar I stumbled back in surprise, my hastily raised defense was easily battered aside and I found myself across the street and through a store's window. That hit took half my Aura in one blow, I had a feeling that he was pissed at me.

I ducked behind some shelves to keep out of sight and rushed to one of the shop's unbroken windows to get a glimpse of what was going on. Seems that Neo was dueling him on top of the building I was just launched from. I grunted, restored my Aura once again, and moved to go help Neo from this tank of a man. I burst through the door and began flinging **Far Strike** after **Far Strike** at the man, I could hear him swear up a storm with each hit.

His club swung into Neo and she shattered once again. When she appeared behind his head I was shocked to see that he caught her by a leg. "Using the same trick again?! I'm not an idiot!" Iraklis shouted as he slammed her into the roof and flung her down at me.

I had enough sense to brace myself before catching her, I still slid and made dust and dirt fly everywhere but I made sure she avoided too much damage. I could tell her Aura has taken a bit of a hit from that, she was down to two thirds while our opponent was down to half. Neo slid from my grasp and gave me a look of thanks, we didn't have much more time to bond as Iraklis slammed into the ground in front of us.

"Not too bad, I gotta admit," Iraklis commented. "For a bunch of bandit scum that is. Makes me kinda wonder why people with your skills would turn to a life of crime like this, then again I honestly don't care that much."

"I'd say that this bandit scum has a good enough chance of beating you," I replied, mockingly. "Makes me kinda wonder why you're sticking around like this, then again I don't think there's much in that head."

His eyes narrowed at me, "Quite the mouth on you, try taking from the lady's example and keep it shut."

Iraklis reached into a pouch on his hip and pulled out a brown crystal, earth Dust. He slammed it into his weapon, I watched as the weapon glowed brown as he raised it into the air and slammed it down on the ground. We weren't even near enough for the debris to hit us so I wondered why he even did that. Then, I recalled that we were standing on the ground and jerked Neo and myself away from our spot. Large, jagged rock spears shot out of the ground and into the sky, they stood proudly and menacingly.

I didn't want to have to reveal this to anyone yet, but I didn't have much of a choice right now. I pulled a random Dust crystal from my inventory and used it to replenish Neo's Aura, I saw her eyes widen as she must've felt the rush of regained energy. She briefly glanced at me in surprise before her training took over and focused back on our opponent. I narrowed my eyes at the man in front of us and went into a ready stance as I called out to Rumble, summoning him invisibly.

I'm going to need him for this…

* * *

 **(A/N) Ahaha, a cliffhanger! Ain't I a stinker?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 46 (Next Level: 30,480/107,100)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,014**

 **HP Regen: 60.3/min**

 **MP: 5,778 [3,728 + 186.4(5%) + 1,864(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 607/min [289(base) + 289(100%) + (28.9(10%)]**

 **STR: 58.8 [Base 42 + 12.6(30%) + 4.2(10%)]**

 **VIT: 71.4 [Base 51 + 15.3(30%) + 5.1(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 50**

 **Lien: 2,419,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura (Toggled Off, default)**


	19. Chapter 19

**(A/N) Ah, been rereading and rewatching Ranma ½ recently. So nostalgic.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 19**

I felt Rumble's presence spread across the battleground. He didn't appear before me this time as an invisible spirit when he wasn't fully manifested into the world, instead, he stayed as a presence in the back of my mind. I knew he was there and as long as I stayed close enough to the ground I can use his influence over the earth as I saw fit, so I wasn't too distress over not seeing his invisible (to others) form this time. This is not an efficient use of his powers, he himself has far better control and doesn't waste energy when I give him command of my Aura (plus he could act on his own), but it allowed me to basically become an Earthbender and use the battlefield as I saw fit.

As I made sure my partner was ready, I pulled out a sizable earth Dust crystal of my own, hoping to use it to explain my sudden control over the ground. I just wish that explaining that would be as easy as explaining to Neo how I managed to recharge her Aura like I just did.

Iraklis grinned to himself and charged us, swinging his weapon in a wide arc. Neo and I dodged in opposite directions, watching our opponent's club smash into the spears of earth he created. The rocky pillars crumbled immediately into several smaller pieces and Iraklis swung his club like a bat and smacked one in my direction and another in Neo's.

I leaned to the side and let the rock fly passed my chest, making sure to constantly fire my cane back in his direction. Iraklis twirled his weapon around and deflected the Dust round barrage as they neared him, at this point in time I've focused too much on my opponent and lost track of Neo and I couldn't help but wonder where she was. I didn't have enough time to wonder too much as Iraklis swung his club in an upwards arc, making sure to dig a groove into the ground, in my direction. A stone boulder erupted from the ground in front of the Huntsman and I had to make a hasty dodge, it was larger than I anticipated it to be and I needed to use Rumble's powers to shift it a little as it drew nearer.

When I finished my over the shoulder dodge I used some of my own command over the earth, with a dramatic swing of my arm that held the earth Dust, I used Rumble to make a large stone pillar shoot from the dirt in front of me. Iraklis jumped over the pillar and began running down its length, intent on smashing my face in.

" _For such a large beast of a man, he sure is agile,"_ I couldn't help but think to myself.

Iraklis jumped into the air when he was halfway down the pillar and swung his weapon down, I used **Power Jump** to get back just in time to see a large crater forming under his heavy blow. My opponent stood back up without a care in the world, his weapon transforming into a long barrel with a large two-handed grip. A reloading mechanism of some sort on the side of the weapon spun briefly before he pointed the overcompensating mech shift weapon at me. I felt very nervous staring down the barrel of that thing.

 **[Your Sense Danger skill has gained a level!]**

" _Don't level up at weird times!"_ I angrily thought to myself. I had a small window of action here, my cane's handle shot from the main body of my weapon and the hook snagged on the edge of a broken window. Just as I was dragging myself to safety, Iraklis fired the cannon.

I blinked and heard the shattering of glass, as well as the exploding boom of the cannon and I, felt a massive pressure shoot past my head. As my cane was yanking me back to the ground I saw Neo under the barrel of the cannon with her leg straight up. She managed to kick the thing just in the nick of time, keeping me from having my head blown from my shoulders by the shell of that thing. Or, if I was touched by the gods, knocked out.

When I reach the ground once again I unsnagged the hook and kicked off the side of the building and sent another **Far Strike** in Iraklis's direction. In addition, I used Rumble to make another pillar of rock slam into the back of his head. As he was busy fending off Neo's furious assault he didn't seem to expect that and stumbled forward, barely managing to bring his cannon back down and guard against my Far Strike and Neo's blade. He growled in irritation and swung his cannon in front of him, Neo bent backward out of the way giving him a solid kick to the abdomen for his troubles.

Didn't do a whole lot of damage to his Aura, and didn't even make him budge, but any bit counts. However, what we need to beat this guy is a single large attack.

Iraklis sent a kick of his own at Neo, his cannon turning back into the club he used for most of the battle so far. She ducked under it and continued to weave around the rush of fists and feet our opponent sent her way, Iraklis had a pretty decent grasp of close-quarters combat beyond his weapon. After doing next to nothing during his rush assault, Iraklis roared in anger and raised his club up long enough to bring it back down to the earth.

A crash followed and a very large amount of the ground around Iraklis fissured and cracked before exploding upward in a shower of rock shards and debris. I swore to myself as I was pelted by rocks and carried upwards from the blast, I watched the houses and stores around us cave in from their foundations being ruined beyond simple repair. On the bright side his club didn't have that brown glow anymore, so he had to have used up all his Dust in that one strike.

I twirled myself into a graceful landing next to one of the fallen houses. The sound of shattering glass next to me told me that Neo had appeared too. With a glance I could see that she didn't come out of that blast completely unscathed, her clothes looked ruffled and she had dirt and dust smeared around her body. Her Aura took a hit as well, she was back down to two-thirds while Iraklis didn't look the worse for wear.

"He looks angry," I said. Neo nodded but she didn't look too worried.

I wasn't worried either, but I also didn't want to spend the rest of the day fighting this guy. Sure, I could make us wear him down through nothing but time and effort and plenty of cheesy skill use, but I didn't want to spend too much time fighting a powerful foe like this as it is.

I thought back to an earlier part of our brief fight where I threw a Burn Dust crystal into his face and shot it. That attack did a lot of damage to both me and him for such a small piece of the action, it was responsible for most of the damage to his Aura so far. My cane's shots, Neo's hits, and my **Far Strikes** did a number on him too, but all combined together barely made up half the damage.

So, blowing up Dust in his face is the way to go.

"Neo," I started. She looked up at me briefly before turning back to keep an eye on the huntsman stretching his body in the large crater he was standing in. "I have an idea, but I need you to keep him distracted. When I shout your name you need to get the hell out of there."

She nodded, still staring down at our opponent.

"Good, now go kick his ass," I smacked her back and recharged her Aura once more. She shivered a little but composed herself, sprinting down to Iraklis and beginning her attack. I didn't stay in one spot, instead, I used my **Chameleon** spell and snuck around the side of the battle, keeping a close eye on the fight going on nearby.

I needed to stay out of sight and out of mind from Iraklis for this to work. While he was big and muscular, he did not seem like a fool and if he caught on he would ditch this area and our fight would be that much more prolonged.

As Neo slammed her foot into the side of his face I brought my inventory up and pulled out a Lightning Dust crystal. I carefully slipped it into one of the many cracks and splinters formed from Iraklis's little temper tantrum. When it looked like he was about to get the upper hand over Neo I used my control over Rumble's abilities to make some rock clamp down over his feet and cause him to stumble. Neo swiftly recovered herself and went right back on the attack.

I repeated the hiding of Dust crystals all across the battlefield, filling in other places with powdered Dust. I somehow managed to keep myself hidden and out of the fight the entire time, my only interference was giving a small helping hand with Ruble's powers every now and then when Neo was having a hard time, just long enough to riddle this place like a minefield. I came out of **Chameleon** a good distance away from the crater's edge, pointing my cane at the nearest Dust crystal.

"Neo!" I shouted, urgent. She didn't hesitate to tense up and shatter into a thousand pieces. I took that as my cue to fire my cane, the bright, exploding round rocketing out of its barrel. Iraklis had enough time to look my way and widened his eyes when he saw where my weapon's round was aiming for. Iraklis slammed his club into the ground to shield his body from one side and used his arms to cover his head, his body began shimmering with Aura.

When the glowing round hit the ground the entire village and everyone in it had to have felt the blast. I was knocked off my footing from the force and bounced down the street a good two dozen feet. I heard the shattering of glass and Neo came slamming back down next to me looking battered and a little singed, despite her high agility she took a beating from her very personal fight with Iraklis and it showed when I saw that her Aura was getting dangerously low and her health points were even being affected. I wasn't as quick as I would've liked.

 **[Dust Mastery has risen by 10 levels!]**

" _That better of finished him,"_ I thought to myself. " _That took a good chunk off my Dust supplies."_

Neo and I picked ourselves up from the ground and stared at the results of my idea. The houses that had caved in were little more than charred pieces of debris and firewood and the more mundane dust was still settling down from the initial blast. I wasn't able to actually see through its haze, although…

I grimaced to myself when I saw a shape being formed in front of our eyes.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me…" I muttered in disbelief. Neo eyed me, confused, and I just pointed down at the, now significantly wider, crater. She turned to where my finger was pointing and her eyes widened in surprise. Iraklis was still standing.

He was beat up, he was bleeding from a gash on his head, his clothes were a burnt mess, and his club had a large dent on it… but he was alive and his health and Aura were down to small chunks. Iraklis gasped in pain and stumbled forward, catching himself on his club before he could fall. He looked up at us in fury, but he didn't charge us in rage. Instead, he kept himself at a cold burn.

"Forcing me to use my semblance for something like this… you crazy bastards win this round. I can tell the town has already fallen by now so there is no point dying here uselessly. Let the Grimm take you and all you hold dear for all I care," he grunted out as he picked his club out of the ground. Iraklis leaped out of the crater on the edge opposite of us.

"If I survive this, I will _not_ forget it. I have your faces," those were his final words to us. With what he wanted to say out of the way he turned and ran, heading for the nearest edge of the town's wall. I didn't bother chasing him, according to my ability we already won.

 **You have won a boss battle by forcing your opponent to flee!**

 **You have gained 200,000EXP!**

 **You have gained 50,000Lien!**

 **By fighting this boss with an ally you have gained 1,500 reputation with Neopolitan!**

 **[You have gained two levels!]**

 **[Iraklis is now your enemy!]**

 **[You and Neopolitan are now friends!]**

I smiled at that last message and as I closed them a new one took their place.

 **Quest completed!**

 **You have finished the minor quest "Banditry"!**

 **Rewards:**

 **Full acceptance into the Branwen Tribe!**

 **10,000 EXP**

 **3,000Lien**

 **[You are now friends with the Branwen Tribe!]**

 **[Quest Updated]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **It seems Junior has pulled through for you and presented you with the location of this partner you so desperately want. It's too bad she's stuck with a bunch of brutish bandits, isn't it?**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. [X]**

 **-Go to Junior's club at the time he tells you to. [X]**

 **-Find your way to the last known location of the bandits. [X]**

 **-Complete sidequest "Banditry". [X]**

 **-Bring Neo to your side and escape the Branwen Tribe.**

 **Rewards: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **Failure: Death.**

I sat down on the ground, mentally exhausted and just thinking about just how different huntsmen bosses and Grimm bosses were like. Neo followed my lead and practically fell down next to me with a huff, a quick glance above her gave me a bit of a start. She gained a level and was sitting at level eighty-seven. I looked up at the sky, the day probably hasn't even reached noon and it already feels like an entire day has gone by. I pulled out a bottle of water and drunk from it greedily before passing it over to Neo who finished it off. I started laughing, that made Neo look at me like I was a weirdo but it seemed like it was infectious enough and she began quietly laughing alongside me.

I heard people running in our direction, from the harsh way they were speaking I figured they had to be our mutual bandit friends. I really didn't feel like talking right now, but I guess that I didn't have much of a choice. In the distance, I swore I heard the howling and snarling of the creatures of Grimm. God, I need a cigar…

* * *

We weren't spared the task of helping the rest of the attack group move most of the loot before the Grimm set in. Which I thought was bull because we ended up fighting the real huntsman threat that this town had, I would have preferred to be on sentry duty and keep a watch out for the Grimm. Neo didn't look pleased with the prospect of manual labor after a rigorous fight either and in this instance probably would have welcomed guard duty. So, we both scowled and bonded some more over our mutual dislike of the task.

Other than some Lien and a good restock of my Dust I didn't find anything useful from the raid.

After the whole thing was officially over and all of the loot was nice and organized Raven welcomed me into the tribe and we partied that night over the successful raid and a new member joining the family. I still stayed close by to Neo, I wasn't much for mingling with a bunch of drunken men and she seemed to welcome my company. Oddly, she never questioned how I managed to restore her Aura like I did during our battle, and so I never said anything. You know the old saying about gift horses.

A month went by after that attack on the village and I settled into a routine. I woke up early and had breakfast with Neo, chatting with her about anything. She didn't respond verbally, but she seemed to enjoy it all the same. After breakfast, I would join Neo in whatever duty she had, almost always guard duty at the front gate, after lunch, I'd wander out into the desert to train and try and create new skills in a rocky area that looked like an arena. When my training time was over I'd come back and rejoin Neo for her evening guarding and then eat dinner together.

It was a wonderful system in my opinion and I didn't even have to lie about where I was going, I just had to say that I was training in a quiet place away from everybody. As I was one of the stronger people in the tribe most just shrugged and accepted it. Even though it was the complete truth, I don't think everyone bought it at face value. More than once I'd catch Vernal eyeing me as I wandered out into the desert, Raven spent most of her time in her tent.

My training was met with mixed results the entirety of the month I've spent here. I had to put **Summon Elemental** on hold until I left Raven's tribe, I wasn't too displeased about that since it was level ninety already, but I didn't need her snooping around too much. I didn't have a lot to practice with right now so I mainly focused on two skills **Aura** finally reached level sixty and I boosted **Physical Endurance** up to level fifty-three, I had a massive fifty-four percent decrease to physical damage thanks to that. Stat wise I managed three vitality points and five strength, it was getting much harder to increase dexterity the workout way.

As a negative to my training, I was not able to create a skill similar to a mage's Blink skill right now, or any sort of variant. I think it's because I had no frame of reference to go on when it comes to teleporting. With **Chameleon** I had a vague understanding of blending into the background behind me using colors, using my Aura to constantly shift the colors on my body in order to blend in like the animal itself. Granted, to my knowledge, it was supposed to be much more than that, but I had some understanding of what went down. Even the Kamehameha wave was something I understood how its basics worked now that I know how to manipulate my Aura, I just didn't have the power necessary to use it.

I needed some way to create a decent combat movement skill. Flash-Step, Shadow-Step, _something_. At this point I was contemplating on looking for a dungeon to crawl, defeating a boss might give me a skill book or something. I didn't have an Abyss to buy magical things from so I need to do everything the hard way.

Even as my training came to a bit of a hitch, I made significant progress with my friendship with Neo during my month here. She's comfortable with my presence and seems to genuinely enjoy my companionship, I've even come to like being around her beyond the whole fan thing. I now know that her favorite color _isn't_ white, pink, or brown, but it's actually green. She does enjoy ice cream a lot, her favorite _does_ correspond to her name, she doesn't have any siblings, and she wants to experience the world more than just from what she can get from the tribe.

That last one she hesitated to tell me. Almost like she expected me to say that her place was here.

It was nighttime in the camp and Neo and I were relaxing against one of the camp's walls away from all of the other rowdy bandits. Secretly, I reached into my inventory and pulled out an ice cream filled cup while Neo was looking elsewhere and handed it over to her. At the rate she was demanding ice cream of me, I might just run out. Her eyes brightened and she attacked the treat with all the gusto I'd expect from a child around her size. At this point in our time spent together, she doesn't even blink an eye at me pulling things out at random times.

I laughed in amusement as I started on my own cup of rocky road and she smacked my arm.

I stared off and looked around the camp, contemplating how to ask the question I've been meaning to ask. I should probably just ask it directly. I'm not used to beating around the bush and, to be honest, Neo really isn't the type to do it either. In the time I've spent here so far I've found that she's pretty open about what she wants, what she likes, and what she doesn't like.

Sucking it up I asked, "Neo, why do the others… not like you?"

I felt her tense up next to me.

I scratched my cheek and continued, "I mean, I don't get it. You don't seem like a bad person to me, occupation notwithstanding. I just don't understand."

I looked over at my friend, she was staring at the cup of ice cream she held in her hands, thinking. After a solid minute of contemplation while watching her ice cream slowly melt she looked up at me and motioned for something to write with. I obliged and pulled out a notepad and pen I kept around just for something similar to this. I watched as she took the pad and pen from my hand and scribbled some words on the first page.

She brought the pad up to my eyes after she was done.

 _It's a long story. You might not want to be my friend if you know._

I shrugged, "I've got nothing but time and I doubt I'd ever not want to be your friend, Neo. Want to start with your life story?"

Neo seemed to hesitate and bit her lip but nodded in agreement. She flipped to a new page and began writing…

* * *

 _I guess that telling you what started it all might give you some context..._

 _Raven wasn't always the leader of our tribe, when she was younger we were called the Essen Tribe. In the past, she and her brother were the strongest of us and were the ones chosen to go to a huntsmen academy to learn how to fight more effectively. The tribe always had trouble against huntsmen, the leader at the time, my father, knew that if we didn't get stronger faster, we were going to die a slow and painful death. So he held a tournament for the younger generation at the time, I was too young to participate but I do have very fuzzy memories of Raven and Qrow Branwen dominating their opposition. It was almost no contest to them._

 _When they were off to the academy they didn't immediately come back when they finished. It made things uneasy within the tribe. After a year and a half, Raven finally came back to the tribe, Qrow didn't come with her. She explained that Qrow abandoned us and didn't want to be a part of the family, most of the tribe at the time thought that was why she was gone for so long. Personally, I think there was something else._

 _Raven didn't take the role of leader right away, she stayed as a subordinate to my father for roughly two years. Soon enough she felt like the tribe wasn't going anywhere under my father's guidance, she made a big spectacle of it in the middle of camp and directly challenged my father for leadership over the tribe. He had to accept the challenge or look weak in front of the tribe and lose his position anyway._

 _Clearly, she won the dual. Handily. My father didn't stand any chance against her, not when she was trained at Beacon itself. When I saw my father falling to the floor dead… I charged Raven myself in grief and anger. It was a foolish decision, what could I have done?_

 _Raven humiliated me in front of the entire tribe, she beat me to within an inch of my life and kicked me down into the ground next to my father's body while proclaiming that the tribe was reborn into something new and needed a new name. All without ever drawing her sword or sparing me more than a glance. That was the day I lost my father, my pride, and my voice._

 _I don't know what happened, I'm no medical doctor, but the closest to one we have said the pain of loss and humiliation was what might have caused me to lose my voice. At the time I wasn't bothered by it, I just let things pass by while I retreated into myself in grief and anger. Years later when I tried to speak again I got nothing but gasps and wheezes, this time my voice was gone from lack of use. I can say very short words now after so long of practice, but it's painful._

 _Over time my rage and anger at Raven continued to grow but I knew I couldn't take it out on the object of my rage. She would just kill me as I am and that isn't what I want. I kept my anger in check by training or by exploring new places as we traveled across Remnant. I've never visited any of the major cities of the world but I hoped that I would get the chance someday._

 _What caused my situation as you know it now happened during a small raid not too long ago, a few months before you came here, but it wasn't what we were raiding that made it happen. Attacking a small farming community doesn't carry all that much risk._

 _Over the years I had built up a reputation among my fellow tribesmen, everyone except Raven and Vernal feared me. But one of the men I was leading in the attack either didn't seem to know about it, didn't believe a small girl like me could do anything, or just didn't care. He was a new recruit, barely sixteen and full of hot air._

 _I was having a bad day, I'll spare you the specifics and just say that most of it came from a comment I heard Raven say offhandedly, so I was in a foul mood during the attack and was looking for a way to blow off steam. The new recruit noticed my foul mood over the course of the mission and decided to rile me up with comments about my height, my petite frame, or my inability to speak while we were in the middle of the attack. The others with him tried to get him to stop, but he ignored their warnings._

 _At that point my blood was heated from fighting some of the farmers who tried to fight back against us and my still ever constant reminder of what Raven said that brought back up years of hatred still kept locked inside me, I lashed out at him in anger. He wasn't very experienced in fighting and only recently had his Aura unlocked, he couldn't bring it up for long against me and my blade ended up carving through his chest and heart after a hard swing._

 _The other men backed away from me in fear and ran off to go tell Raven what had happened._

 _I didn't run off because I was still in shock at what happened, I broke one of the tribes most important rules._

" _Don't betray your family."_

 _And what's more of a betrayal than killing one of your own? And… what does it mean when you enjoyed killing someone? I had killed people before, but for some reason, it was the act of killing that annoying boy that made me realize my true feelings about it._

 _I let whoever came by to bring me to Raven take me without any resistance and they brought me in front of the woman herself. There was a long debate over what to do with me but the short version is that Raven didn't want to waste fighting talent like me. I wasn't allowed out of the camp unless we were going for a larger attack or if one of our smaller raids needed a helping hand because they had come into trouble from something stronger than them, but that was very rare. I was regulated to guarding the front door of the camp most of the time, Raven was careful about what battles she had us fight._

 _I don't think having someone strong guarding the gate was the only reason she had me do it, I think she knew that I enjoyed seeing new sights and wanted to constantly punish me by showing me that I'll never get the freedom to see them under my own power. Only when she wanted me to, when she_ allowed _it. To be honest… I don't think that I have a place here anymore._

* * *

I set the pad back down as I finished reading what Neo wrote for me, the camp had quieted down after a while and most of the others were asleep or dozing off. I contemplated over what I just read, Neo has had a hard time. Working under the woman who killed her father and beat and humiliated her to the point she lost her ability to speak. She had to keep her emotions bottled up so she didn't do anything rash…

I felt Neo's eyes bore into me and I finally spoke up, "I think… that you have your reasons to hate Raven. Good ones too. You had to bottle up your hate and only express yourself in a couple of ways for a good chunk of your life. I can see how all your pent-up anger over the years came to its tipping point when one idiot stirring up the pot made those hidden feelings show themselves."

I smiled down at Neo, "But this doesn't change anything, I don't blame you for what happened and I won't judge you negatively for who you are." I paused and rubbed my chin, "Actually, I think this just makes me want to be your friend even more! So how about it? Still friends?"

I stuck a hand out and stared down at the girl with a big grin on my face.

 **[You have gained 1,500 reputation with Neopolitan!]**

I felt arms wrapping themselves around my waist, I jolted back a bit in surprise but gradually returned the sudden hug. We stayed like this for… I wasn't sure. But I was not about to end it until Neo felt better. Neo tightened her grip on me and I just patted her back, our ice cream cups long forgotten.

* * *

 **(A/N) Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And remember, this story arc only seems long because I only update once a month.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 48 (Next Level: 21,580/116,600)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,156**

 **HP Regen: 63.12/min**

 **MP: 5,933 [3,828 + 191.4(5%) + 1,914(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 623/min [296.65(base 5%) + 296.65(100%) + (29.67(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 60**

 **Lien: 2,492,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	20. Chapter 20

**(A/N) Hey.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 20**

"You fucking dick!"

That was the first thing I heard when I walked over to see what was going on when I saw that a crowd had gathered. I got there just in time to see a fist from one of the bandits being swung into the jaw of another, sending him flying into a stacked pile of boxes. The one that got hit was far from done, however, and he spat out some blood before charging at the other man and tackling him at the waist with the crowd arguing amongst themselves about who was right.

I have no idea what these people were arguing about and I didn't care about it in the first place.

My smirk was the only thing betraying me as I realized that the past two and a half months here were finally starting to pay off. I rolled the small bottle of black perfume around in my pocket, I could feel it draw in the negative energy being generated around me and slowly replenish itself. I used up two-thirds of its maximum use so far, spraying the black liquid evil around the camp where people most often congregate ever since I returned from the raid and became a part of this tribe.

The great thing about this convenient little item is that the more you use it and spread negativity around, the more negativity it generates from the people exposed to it. The more negativity I can create just by exposing the bandits to the stuff, the more the perfume will recharge itself. Thus, it's a perpetual loop of self-feeding negativity. It only helps that these bandits were so easy to be emotionally manipulated.

I haven't just been spraying the ground and communal areas, I've also managed to sneak into tents and spray people with the perfume. From what I've gathered about the perfume so far, whenever two or more people have been sprayed by the stuff they tend to seek each other out. I don't know why they do that, but I didn't question it when it helps me so much. All the negativity I've been putting around the camp has started to attract the attention of the Grimm, attacks on the wall occur more frequently.

I pulled the bottle out a bit and eyed it with **Observe** , just by standing in this arguing crowd it restored most of its uses. I looked back at the two fighting men and enjoyed the show, I didn't even have to spray them to get them to fight. With just the negativity being spread around the camp fights are caused by themselves, I only have to spray people if I want to make a large amount of negativity at once.

"Just what the hell is going on here?!" I winced in surprise and both the crowd around me and the two fighting bandits quieted immediately, only one person commanded that kind of respect in this camp. I turned my head and saw Raven storming out of her tent with Vernal following behind her, she was practically stomping her way to the crowd. By now the silence was uncomfortable and everyone was shuffling around awkwardly like children who just got caught doing something bad by their parents.

Now she was standing in front of the entire crowd with an annoyed sneer on her face, "Are you idiots _trying_ to attract the Grimm?! We're already being attacked constantly, wasting precious resources and delaying our departure, and your solution is to throw more fuel on the fire? Well?!"

The "No" and "No ma'am", and various versions of it, being muttered by all the different bandits in the crowd was far too soft-spoken for people considered to be the scourge of towns. Raven didn't let her glare down and made sure to get eye contact in with every single one of us. When her gaze went past me and focused on someone else I decided to make a gamble, emotions were running hot right now and maybe the perfume I have could ignite something in one of these people.

Obviously, I couldn't walk around, lest I bring attention to me, so I have to do it to someone close by. For the sake of simplicity I just picked the guy in front of me, he was facing Raven and not paying attention to his surroundings. I slowly pulled the perfume out of my pocket and pointed it at the exposed gap in the man's arm armor. I squeeze the little puff on the bottle and watched a black mist spray out of the nozzle, the mist seemed to sense the man in front of me and pulled itself to his skin, slowly being absorbed.

He stood ramrod straight for a second and I almost thought he knew what I did, but such thoughts were laid to rest.

"If you're so scared of a few Grimm attacks then maybe you should just step down as the leader!" came his shout. I rose an eyebrow, this stuff really does mess with the mind more than I thought.

Raven slowly turned her head to face the guy and replied in a tone so tart that it could cut steel, " _What_ did you just say to me?"

He moved through the crowd, the other bandits giving him either bewildered looks or looks that screamed they thought he was an idiot. He didn't pay them any mind and stood in front of Raven, between her and the rest of us. He was taller than her, but only just, and had a little bit of defined muscle, but he was level twenty. I almost pitied the poor guy.

"I said that if you're so scared of a few Grimm attacks then maybe you should step down as the leader!" He raised his arms in the air, "Hell, maybe I should be the leader! 'Cause I'm not gonna run from those damn monsters like you!"

Raven sneer deepened, "Questioning my courage, questioning my claim to the leadership of the tribe, is it a duel for that position you're looking for?"

"Aye, maybe it is."

"Then you're a fool, but so be it. I accept."

Even when he went to go get his weapons the so-called "duel" barely lasted more than seven seconds. Soon enough his head was parted from his shoulders in front of the crowd. Even if you're a part of a tribe of bandits, seeing one of your own being beheaded because of his apparent foolishness was something that did not feel right. I glanced around the crowd, seeing the different reactions of the people around me.

Oddly enough I could see a black haze forming over the heads of those present.

 **[You have gained the skill "Negativity Sense"!]**

 **[Negativity Sense (Active/Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **The ability to sense the negative emotions emitted by the people of the world. At lower levels it only allows for a vague sense of strong negativity, higher levels allow the user to sense specific negative emotions.**

 **-Passively allows the user to sense strong negative emotions.**

 **-When the skill is active, allows the user to see how strong the negative emotions of an area are.**

 **-Cost: None.**

Useful, I quickly used the new ability to see just how strong the negative emotions were. At first, I thought a tide of black mist had suddenly rolled into the camp, but I quickly figured out that that was the amount of negative emotions charged in the air. I don't know if that is a truly great amount, but it is good enough for me. So if that's the case then I can begin my plan to leave sooner than I thought, most of my time here was supposed to be spent getting Neo over to me side and slowly building tension in the camp. But Neo seems to want to leave already and negativity is spreading rapidly enough that my plans had accelerated without my knowledge.

"Disperse and calm your emotions, we do not need any more Grimm attacks," came Raven's command after she cleaned her sword of blood and resheathed it, she turned around and walked back to her tent without another word.

I stuck around a little bit longer and watched the crowd slowly disperse back into the rest of the camp. I could see the negative energy follow and spread through the camp as the bandits went back to their usual hang out spots. I eyed the various tents around the camp, it was time I began planning my leave.

* * *

Nighttime eventually rolled around and most everyone was sitting around a campfire, eating whatever the cooks made tonight. The typical boisterous laughter or loud conversations were not present tonight, most of the tribe members either kept to themselves or to a small clique. I had a feeling it was because of me that everyone was not having a fun time tonight, I had spent this week and the previous on a perfume spraying binge. At this point, I'm certain that at least every inch of this camp had been sprayed by the perfume at least once.

All the sneaking around that I did in camp and when I snuck into one of the tribe member's tent to spray them managed to make my **Sneak** skill level up much faster than it did back in Vale, sitting at a nice level thirty-eight. It's probably because my robberies there didn't really require me being super stealthy all the time.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and look down at Neo, she had been sitting next to me while we kept ourselves separated from everyone for most of the evening. She shoved the notepad I had given her into my face and forced me to read it.

 _What do you want for your future?_

I blinked as I read the question, not really expecting one like this from Neo. I smiled anyway and looked down at my friend, "I want to mark my place in history as the most infamous thief in the world, Neo. Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and even Atlas if I want to aim for something high, I want the world to know who I am as I take what I want. I want to live my life the way I want it to be, with nobody to pull my strings like a puppet to make me dance."

Neo seemed to think it over, smiled, then nodded. It seemed she approved.

"I also want to share that experience with somebody that I can call a partner."

Neo jerked her head to face me, surprise written on her. She tilted her head at me, asking me to elaborate.

"All that I said is great and all, but if I can't share that with someone I can trust then its a pretty lonely life, you know?" I started. I smiled down at Neo, "That's why I've been looking for someone to be my partner, somebody that I can trust and will have my back, and won't try and run it through. My dream for the future is a pretty tall order and I think it would be nice to have someone help me with it."

Neo pointed a finger up at her face as if asking " _You mean me?"_.

I nodded, "I like you Neo, you're someone that I can consider a friend. You're someone that I trust, and I'd say we make a pretty good team together. So how about it? You want to ditch this place and come with me to Vale? I've already got myself a group waiting for my return."

Neo didn't even hesitate, she nodded her head and glared at the rest of the tribe, her eyes lingering on Raven's tent a bit longer. She looked up at me, and I could tell by her eyes that she wanted to know what to do next. So, I decided to tell her.

I held up a small remote-controlled firebomb.

"I have lots of these, I'm going to hide them around the camp tonight after everyone has gone to sleep. When the last has been set we'll meet up inside a tent a little bit away from all the other's, you know the one."

Neo looked at me, clearly a bit confused about why we'd go inside a tent when we're trying to escape.

I smiled reassuringly at her, "We're going to hide a bit while things get intense and then rob Raven blind, Neo. A final 'Fuck you!' as a parting gift."

Neo grinned brightly up at me, excited at the prospect of robbing Raven Branwen and sticking it, even a bit, to the woman who ruined her.

"Then, all we have to do is hop the camp fence and get the hell out of here. There is a car I parked in between some shady rocks near the road. We'll take that back to Sandyport where I have a ship docked." I occasionally checked up on the car that I stole to get here when I had some spare time, making sure that it still worked and nobody took it.

Neo nodded, she seemed fine that her part in the plan was to just wait for the right time.

I kicked back and took a drag from my cigar, going over which places need a bomb the most. While I could just spread as many bombs as I liked around the camp, I have more than enough to level this place since I enjoy overkill a lot, I'd prefer this to be tactical. I want to draw as much attention to one place as possible so that everyone is too busy focusing on what was going on in front of them and not notice the two of us making our escape.

The storage tent was the first obvious choice, followed by the gate and the more heavily populated side of the camp plus its wall. If the walls and gate were damaged they'd be focusing on those important parts too much to care about anything else.

Once the tribe slowly began to head to their tents for the night I looked down at Neo and nodded, she replied in the same way and went back to her tent as I headed back to mine. She'd wait there until everyone went to sleep, then head to the spot I picked for us to meet. It was an out of the way tent that was mostly used to hold spare weapon parts and kept out of the way from the rest of the camp because nobody wanted to smell the oil all day.

As I laid down on the floor of my tent I pulled out my scroll and checked the time, one in the morning. Only the night guards were awake at this time, and they were easy to avoid. I ducked through my tent flap and activated **Sneak** and **Chameleon**. I quickly made my way over to the storage tent, there was one guard there but he was asleep in a chair. I hurried past the guard and through the tent flaps, taking out one of the firebombs. I set two down next to some crates of Dust, considering how close the tent is to one of the walls, this was likely enough to punch a hole through it. The Dust in this tent would do most of the work anyway.

Heading out of the tent was as easy as getting in, my next destination was the more populated tent area of the camp. A few were placed and scattered amongst the tents and I put a few near a section of the wall. Hopefully, it should be enough to knock it a bit loose, these firebombs don't have as much force as a normal bomb does.

As I was about to head to the gate for the final touches I had another idea spark itself into my head. I pulled out the perfume and unscrewed the nozzle. If this thing can make people go from friendly to each other to make them want to beat each other to death just from slowly spraying it around the camp over a long period of time, then I had to know what just pouring it on the ground would do. I brought the perfume up and tilted it so that the entrance to the bottle faced the ground.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the viscous, black liquid oozed out of the bottle and puddled on the ground like maple syrup. It steamed upon contact with the ground and the black vapor briefly covered my sight.

 **[Gamer's Mind resisted the effects of "Eau de Grimm"!]**

I activated my new skill **Negativity Sense** and saw the ambient negativity in the air skyrocket. I widened my eyes in surprise, perhaps I really should have been dumping it all at once instead of spraying it slowly. With that done I stashed the bottle back into my inventory and quickly made my way down to the gate through the cover of shadows. When I finally reached the gate I made note that the guards only protected the outside.

" _Figures, they aren't exactly expecting one of their own betraying them,"_ I thought to myself. " _Still, it's an example of doing your duty poorly."_

I placed a couple of firebombs on each side of the gate and quickly dashed away from it, I needed to get to the spot Neo and I are going to meet. I paused my movement as I heard distant howls and roars, that had to be the Grimm. Perhaps pouring that bottle of perfume had other side effects, it should've taken longer for it to have created enough negativity to trigger a Grimm attack.

I didn't want to count my blessings, a Grimm attack would be very useful right about now. The Grimm are good distraction tools if you know how to use them. Sadly, the howls and roars had woken people up and it became a little harder to sneak to the designated spot, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I ducked through the tent flap and saw Neo already there, cleaning her weapon with some of the oil found in the tent. She smiled at me and then pointed outside and tilted her head.

"I've got everything set up and there is even a Grimm attack occurring, seems like as good a time as any to get things moving. You all set?"

Neo nodded.

I held up a remote and pushed the button in its center, "Good."

In the distance, I heard the explosions and the screams of shock and outrage. There were even the shrill cries of pain laced into the screams as well. We kept to ourselves for a few minutes in silence, waiting for the time to move. Once I deemed enough time had passed I poked my head out of the tent flap and gave the camp a once over. A good portion of it was burning and I saw a lot of bandits running around fighting Grimm or putting out fires.

Raven herself was even among those helping, her mask was on and it took me a second to realize that she had it on so she could hide the use of her Maiden powers. Clever, I'll give her that. Vernal was acting like she was the one controlling the weather, bringing snow and rain down on whatever was burning in front of them while Raven acted like she was telling Vernal what to do.

While all of this was going down I motioned to Neo to follow me, we snuck out of the tent and made a mad dash to Raven's tent. It was the same as when I had first entered it and Neo and I wasted no time taking whatever looked valuable. I began to make my way over to where I saw the metal chest, it was small but heavier than it looks. I quickly stuffed it into my inventory, I can break into it later.

Other than the metal chest and some expensive goodies Raven didn't have a whole lot inside her tent. Figures, I suppose. But we had a good enough haul and we didn't need to spend any more time here than necessary. Neo quickly cut a hole through the back of Raven's tent with her sword and, after I left a small calling card with a jack o'lantern on it, we wasted no time high tailing it out of the camp. I took a quick peek at the camp's situation before we finally descended below the wall, the small Grimm attack looked to have been fended off and they were just dealing with the last of the fires.

"We should hurry," I said. "Seems like they cleared the Grimm already and the fires are nearly out at this point."

Neo nodded and sped up, I managed to keep ahead of her and lead us on a mad sprint through the desert night. The run was boring and we didn't encounter any resistance beyond a few stray Grimm that got left behind from the main attack force. Those were taken care of easily enough by Neo and I and didn't even make us slow down in the slightest.

We finally made it to the rocks that I kept the car stashed and we were breathing heavily from the workout of running up and down sand dunes most of the night. I was glad about the cool, crisp desert night air after all of that running. Neo shoved her bag full of stolen goods into the backseat of the car as I pulled myself into the driver's seat and turned the key. The car rumbled into life and once Neo joined me in the front I shifted the car into drive and slammed my foot on the pedal. The car fought briefly for purchase on a sandy part of the ground, then it found its purchase and soon Neo and I were driving down the road, scot free.

It wasn't all that exciting of an escape, to be honest. There were no epic duels between people who were once allies, no grand declarations of eternal hate, not even an exciting car chase as we made our way away from the bandit tribe. In a way I was both relieved and disappointed at the same time with this outcome, perhaps I'm some sort of adrenaline junkie who needs to have that exciting moment to get my blood pumping.

 **[You are now Abhorred with "The Branwen Tribe"!]**

 **[Raven Branwen now has a personal grudge against you!]**

Seems that Raven found my calling card and realized that Neo and I were not in the camp any more. I smirked to myself, maybe I'll get that blood pumping moment some other day since Raven apparently has a grudge against me. For now, I should just get Neo and I back on my ship and into Vale. I glanced over at my new partner and called out to her, "Hey, Neo."

She looked over at me, curious.

"When we get to Vale, we're going to have to get you some new clothes."

She looked down at her clothes and nodded her head in agreement.

"And a new weapon too, I know a guy that does good work."

She looked at me with an eyebrow raised and pointed at her sword.

I sighed, "That thing is dirt cheap and something I'd expect some no-named mook to carry. If you want to fight tougher opponents or just not have it break in the middle of a fight then you need something of high quality. Plus, it'll make you look good and style is important!" Neo seemed to think it over before reluctantly nodding her head in agreement.

We have a lot of work to do for the future, and we need to look our best when we do it.

 **[Quest Finished!]**

 **One scoop, or two?**

 **What's a master criminal without his true partner in crime? Going lone wolf will only take you so far in this industry. But, unfortunately, you have no idea where this prospective partner of yours is. For now, you will just have to wait for Junior to come up with something.**

 **It seems Junior has pulled through for you and presented you with the location of this partner you so desperately want. It's too bad she's stuck with a bunch of brutish bandits, isn't it?**

 **Quest Progression:**

 **-Commission Junior for his services in finding information. [X]**

 **-Wait until Junior contacts you about the information he found. [X]**

 **-Go to Junior's club at the time he tells you to. [X]**

 **-Find your way to the last known location of the bandits. [X]**

 **-Complete sidequest "Banditry" [X]**

 **-Bring Neo to your side and escape the Branwen Tribe. [X]**

 **Reward: 100,000 Lien, 1,000,000 EXP, new title "Partners in Crime", a new follower, storyline progression.**

 **[You have gained 8 levels!]**

* * *

 **(A/N) And we finally have Neo on board. Bit of an anticlimactic ending there eh?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 56 (Next Level: 98,980/153,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,556**

 **HP Regen: 71.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 6,553 [4,228 + 211.4(5%) + 2,114(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 688/min [327.7(base 5%) + 327.7(100%) + (32.8(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 100**

 **Lien: 2,492,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	21. Chapter 21

**(A/N) Fun fact, I was planning on releasing this on the twenty-fifth as a "Christmas in July" thing but I ended up a little busy and wasn't able to finish it in time. So here it is!**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 21**

The ride back to Sandyport was so uneventful I almost expected Raven and a bunch of her bandit friends to randomly pop out of nowhere and try and stab me with their swords. Couldn't spend the trip talking either, her inability to talk much aside, Neo was passed out in the passenger seat. Even if she wasn't asleep I'd need to pay attention to her to know what she was likely thinking about, and that would include taking my eyes off the road. Never take your eyes off the road, shit like that is what causes accidents.

Sure, I'd be fine with my tough body and Aura, but then the two of us would need to walk the rest of the way and neither of us wants to do that.

On the upside, with Neo being asleep I was able to return to constant training in peace while still driving, my **Summon Elemental** skill was back to being leveled up again.

I called on Wisp, the air elemental, and brought her before me. She was invisible to other people right now, didn't want her to be seen in case Neo suddenly woke up. I didn't need to use any of Wisp's attacks to level up the skill, same as with all of my elementals, since just keeping her around is enough.

" _Hello, Roman, oh it's so good to be awake once more,"_ came the whispery voice. It sounded like she was speaking directly into my ear, a very strange feeling that I doubt I'll get used to.

"I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself, fly around and have fun. Just make sure to stay close by in case I might need you," I whisper, knowing that she'd hear me no matter how quiet I made myself.

I couldn't see really see her expression as she was mostly a mass of swirling air with a soft white glow in the vague shape of a woman, but even I didn't need my **Observe** skill to know that she was happy. Wisp giggled and took off, flying around in the sky. I smiled despite myself, perhaps if I level and prestige the skill up enough I can bring all the elementals out so that they can enjoy being awake for once.

Now that that was taken care of, I focused on what I was going to do about leveling my Aura. We still have a good couple of hours to go before we arrive and I want to get back to training. Normally I'd just start using all of my Aura consuming skills but they were all either movement-based or made some sort of noise and I didn't want to wake Neo, I'm putting those intelligence points to good use. I could repeatedly use **Power of Aura** or just keep **Chameleon** on at all times, but the first didn't give much experience at all since it was so cheap and I'd rather not explain the other. **Aura Mend** wasn't a good choice either since it was a pretty cheap skill to use as well.

As I was thinking hard on what I could do, that was when the realization struck me. In exasperation I bonked my head on the steering wheel because I felt so stupid for not thinking of it before. I tense briefly when Neo snorted at the noise and adjusted herself in her seat, when she didn't seem to wake I relaxed myself and straightened back up.

I began experimentally expelling my Aura out of my body, giving it no direction. My body glowed a soft orange, nothing so bright that it would wake someone up. I felt what was happening to my Aura, it was a steady bleed into the air and the Aura that left my body harmlessly dissipated into nothing.

 **[You have created a new skill!]**

 **[Expel Aura (Active) Lv1 Exp:5.8%]**

 **A training exercise Hunters use to familiarize themselves with their Aura. Long practice of this skill allows the Hunter to know exactly how much Aura they'd need to use to activate Dust, use semblances, or coat their bodies. Experienced users of this skill will be able to utilize their Aura in various scenarios without waste.**

 **-No prestige upon max level.**

 **-Level 25, 50, 75, 99, reduce MP costs by 5% each.**

 **-Cost: Any/minute.**

This is probably another basic Hunter technique that I don't know about since I've never stepped foot into a combat school or been trained by a professional. But it doesn't matter now, with how broken my abilities are I bet I'd be able to level this and my Aura much more quickly. I activated the new skill and experimentally poured about fifty Mp per minute into it. My body still had the same glow to it so I added another hundred per minute to it. Once more the glow remained unchanged.

This was good, I really don't need to glow like a second sun.

I decided to go all in and dumped enough MP into the skill to drain the entire bar in a couple of minutes, leaving only enough left so that Wisp didn't disappear and waiting for my MP to recharge so that I can do it all over again.

* * *

 **[Expel Aura leveled up 15 times!]**

 **[Aura leveled up 2 times!]**

" _As I thought,_ _ **Expel Aura**_ is _amazing for Aura training,"_ was my thought as I pulled the car into a nearby parking space. I didn't have a lot of trouble getting into the town with it despite the fact that I stole it from some guy, maybe it's because it has been too long or it's a common occurrence. I could see my ship still docked in the harbor, small silhouettes of my men roamed the top either goofing off or doing some sort of work.

I looked to my right and saw that Neo was still sleeping.

"Time to face the dragon," I muttered to myself. I reached over and poked Neo on her cheek, "Wake up Neo, it's late in the morning already."

Her fist socked me in the nose and I reeled back in surprise, but she slowly stirred and began rubbing her eyes, glaring at me hatefully.

I rubbed my nose and rose an eyebrow, "Don't look at me like that, we're already at my ship and you needed to wake up. What, did you want me to carry you?"

Neo nodded and yawned.

"Not gonna happen, you're a big girl now," I eyed her up and down, in response she flipped me off. I couldn't help but chuckle and got out of the car, Neo finally finished waking up and tiredly got out as well. The two of us walked down the dock and when we got close to the gangplank one of my men finally spotted me and signaled the rest that I had returned.

It feels good to be back on top of the leadership role, despite my initial confusion I felt a certain amount of smugness when I saw my men quickly drop what they were doing to line up all orderly in order to greet their glorious leader. Neo and I crossed the gangplank and we finally found ourselves on my ship, we were almost on our way to Vale and I was so giddy I was ready to do a jig. Not that I'd actually do that, **Gamer's Mind** or not I might be too embarrassed to show myself in public again or have the respect of my followers.

As we crossed the final threshold of the ramp I saw that my men had formed into two neat little rows, Arthur, the one I had given temporary command of the ship to, stood waiting for me at the end of the rows ramrod straight with a sharp salute. Neo raised an eyebrow at the way they were acting like some sort of military and I just sighed and slightly shook my head. Not like I ordered them to do this, in fact, I vaguely remember telling Arthur to not act like we were in a military.

"Welcome back, boss. And may I ask who your friend is?" Arthur asked, not dropping the salute for some reason.

"It's good to be back, Arthur," I said. I motioned a hand over to Neo and addressed the crowd, "And this, gentlemen, is Neo. She's to be my new partner and second in command, so be sure to follow her orders."

Arthur nodded his head in respect to Neo, "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

Neo just tilted her head and smiled.

"She's not much of a talker, as you can see," I stated. "But don't worry, I think I can talk enough for two people. Now, are we ready to leave at a moment's notice?" I began walking to the control room, my two companions following alongside.

"Yes boss, we can leave whenever you're ready. I've made sure to keep us always ready to leave these past two months, just in case you returned earlier than expected," Arthur said, nearly tripping over himself as he jerked into motion when he figured out we were moving.

"Good, then let's head back to Vale." Arthur mumbled into a walkie-talkie he had pulled from his belt, I don't think we had anything like that when I was on board last time so this must be something new. I applauded Arthur for thinking ahead. "By the way," I said, making Arthur jump, "Didn't I say to not act like the Atlesian military?"

Arthur rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry boss, wasn't expecting you so soon so I panicked."

I hummed in response, "Well, it's fine I guess. Try and remember it in the future, we're a criminal gang, not a military or mercenary group. That doesn't mean to start acting like a bunch of stupid thugs too if I wanted that I'd hire men from Junior."

"Yes, boss!"

The three of us continued on in silence until the door of the control room finally appeared, as we stepped inside I saw that my men were already doing some last minute preparations to leave. Neo made herself comfortable in the captain's chair as I stared out the window. I looked over at one of the random goons working, "Call ahead, inform Jerry that we're heading back to Vale." The random goon nodded and went to the ships onboard call terminal.

As Neo took over my seat I didn't have a place to sit so I made due by leaning against the wall and began meditating, it wasn't long until I felt the ship start to move. Arthur was right, he did keep us ready to leave at a moments notice. I wasn't meditating for long until I was interrupted by the same goon I sent to make the call ahead.

I looked up and eyed him, lighting a cigar since it seemed I wasn't going to meditate, "What? Did Jerry say something that I need to hear?"

The goon shook his head, "No boss… the thing is…"

"Spit it out already," I grunted, annoyed by his delaying.

"We're not receiving any transmission from Vale, boss," he said, fidgeting in place.

"What?" I asked, the cigar in my mouth nearly falling out. I was honestly not expecting that.

"Like I said, we're not receiving transmissions from Vale. Can't make a call anywhere in the city, I managed to find some places that still accept calls but its spotty and jumbled and not who we're looking for. The thing is, I don't think it's the CCT malfunctioning 'cause then the whole network would be down and we've been using our scrolls constantly since you left."

" _Which means there is something else going on,"_ I silently expanded on the goon's report. I looked down in thought and crossed my arms, " _Is Salem making her move so soon because of our interaction almost three months ago? ...No, I don't think she's ready yet and what happened between us wouldn't be enough to make her recklessly move so soon. Cinder still needs her two lackeys and probably needs to train more herself before she's ready to fight Amber. This has got to be something different, but the show doesn't have anything during this time period so I don't know if it's related to anything in the future or not."_

I exhaled a cloud of smoke and waved the goon off, "Go back to work, I'll think this over."

He nodded and quickly left to go back to work.

" _Guess I won't know what's going on until we get back to Vale. Overly worrying about it is just going to accomplish nothing and waste time that could be used for something much more useful,"_ I cracked my neck and stared out the window.

* * *

The ship slowly drifted into Vale's port and at a glance, nothing looked to be wrong with the city. Given the silence that comes with trying to communicate with the city, I expected Vale to be burnt to the ground, overflowed with Grimm, or otherwise destroyed. But as I looked upon the city I didn't see anything wrong with it, it looked just like it did when I left.

Neo was leaning over the railing of the ship while trying to see as much of it as she can. She hadn't been to a big city before, or at least a city as big as Vale, so her enthusiasm was kinda cute. As long as she wasn't going to get one of those "I Heart Vale" T-shirts I've seen here and there I think I could let her enjoy herself.

When we neared the docking point I pulled up my scroll and looked down at it, trying to spot any changes that may or may not have happened since I checked about five miles back. I frowned when I saw that nothing seemed to have changed. Experimentally I tried pulling up a website, it didn't work. This time I tried calling Arthur but the call wasn't able to go through even though he's barely across the ship. So Remnant's equivalent of the internet was not working in Vale, and whatever's happening also blocked actual calls from going through.

I'm not sure how whoever did this managed to do it, and I'm not sure why they did it in the first place, but it does explain why none of my men picked it up and why I felt a little worried about it. The internet was working for them and it was likely none had the need to phone ahead to Vale, which makes this a rather troublesome situation.

The ship finally came to a full stop and my men began securing it to the dock, I left them to do their thing and hopped off the side of the ship without bothering with the gangplank. I came to a stop with a thud, a second one following suite next to me. Neo grinned up at me, clearly waiting for me to let her run around and play with her new toy that everyone else calls a city.

I rolled my eyes and pulled a map and a pen out of my inventory, marking a few places on the map that I deemed important. I handed it over to Neo and she took it curiously.

"See that warehouse I marked?" I pointed at the one in question, "That's my base of operations. Over here is a club run by a guy named Junior, I'll be there tonight trying to find out what's been going on after I visit my warehouse. This place over here is a weapon shop called Marigold's Weapons Shop, Marigold is the man who made my cane and he did a good job with it. I've marked a few clothes shops I found that sell classy looking wear, pick whatever you like."

I handed Neo six thousand Lien, her eyebrows rose into her hairline when I just handed it over to her, "For your weapon and clothes… plus anything else you want. My treat." Neo took the money and grinned up at me, giving me a saucy wink before running off into the city. I know how to treat a lady.

The trip to Junior's was quick and I wasted no time. I told Jerry that I'd introduce him and the rest of my men to Neo once my business with Junior was finished. I tried asking him what happened in the city while I was gone but all he said was that he didn't know much. Apparently, someone very important in the criminal world was recently killed two weeks ago and a power vacuum was in effect, Jerry didn't know who was killed as he tried to stay out of it while I was away. Had he gotten involved even a little there was the possibility that he might've attracted the wrong sort of attention. Our full fighting force and I the leader to direct everyone wasn't in Vale at the time. Even if I was annoyed at the lack of information I did applaud Jerry at staying low and not taking unnecessary risks.

I didn't need to come back to Vale to find that my base of operations was burnt to the ground along a brand new gang war. The van came to a squeaky stop in front of Junior's club, I told the mook driving to wait nearby before strutting up to the entrance. One of Junior's men stopped me when I tried to enter, "Sorry, but we gotta pat you down. No weapons allowed past this point."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance but I complied, not like I didn't have my cane stashed in my inventory. The only things I have in my physical pockets is lint and a lighter since I don't even use them all that much. Once the man was done frisking me for weapons they aren't going to find I was let in, the place looked the exact same as it did when I saw it the last time. Minus the typical goons openly carrying weapons somewhere on their body.

I spotted Junior manning the bar, as usual, he looked older and tired.

After making my way across the dance floor I sat down in a seat in front of him and gave my most annoying grin, "Long time no see, eh Junior? Miss my handsome face?"

Junior set the glass he was cleaning down on the bar, "Hell no. I wish your ugly mug never entered my establishment."

I faked being hurt, placing a hand over my heart, "Such mean words, and here I was wanting to catch up with an old friend."

"We've only known each other for a few months, I'd hardly call that 'old friends', Roman," Junior said as he picked the glass back up and began cleaning it again. He sighed, "I know why you're here. You're wanting information about what's going on, right?"

I frowned, playfulness pushed aside for now, "Yeah, just what the hell went down while I've been on vacation. I leave Vale for a few months and suddenly everything fell apart. The only thing one of my men could tell me was that someone important in the criminal world is dead." I pushed some Lien across the bar.

Junior didn't say anything right away, instead, he finished wiping the glass and slowly put away the Lien I gave him. He grimaced and said, "Walter is dead. Killed by Brutus Washer two weeks ago in a raid that the man himself led."

My breath hitched and my eyes widened in disbelief. Walter was dead? Killed by Brutus Washer? I knew that someone important was killed but I didn't expect that it would be him of all people. I figured it would've been one of the other major kingpins, they don't have as much influence as Walter but by no means were they small fish. Any one of them dying would start a bid to see who could gobble up as much of their territory first provided the new kingpin that took over didn't quickly establish his power base. Walter would, of course, do his damndest to limit the collateral such a death would bring, and he does act as a middleman to solve all dispute between rival kingpins so that there isn't a gang war on the horizon, but it would still be brutal and bloody. Criminals don't take kindly to others trying to take over what they believe belongs to them.

And Brutus Washer was no different, the man was a cruel bastard that enjoyed kicking puppies and punting babies. At the same time, he could also be charismatic, after all, you don't get to be one of the top kingpins because you're some brute that doesn't know how to shake a hand. At best I'd imagine that the reason he did all of this was that he saw an opportunity to finally move higher on the ladder. For all his cruelty and his annoyingly charismatic side, he was as power hungry as every other kingpin in this city and would take full advantage of it.

So if Walter died then that means there is nobody with enough influence and power to stop the other kingpins from going to war with each other. Everything Walter built up would be fought tooth and nail over who gets the choice pieces, all the effort he spent trying to keep the underworld of Vale from tearing itself apart at the seams would be null and void.

"Why the hell would he do that?" I nearly shouted. "Does the idiot even realize what he's done?!"

"I'm sure he damn well knows _exactly_ what he's done," Junior growled. "He sent a message out to everyone in the criminal world of Vale. The damn lunatic wants to bring a new criminal order to things around her, said that the underworld had grown stale and bland. Wants to revitalize everything and start fresh. And the best way to do that was to get rid of the last piece of the old criminal rulers, some symbolic bullshit or something. Out with the old, in with the new."

I snorted, "He just wants more power in the underworld. With Walter gone, anybody that managed to secure enough of his assets could very well catapult themselves ahead of the rest and rule over the other kingpins or eliminate them entirely. With the amount of control Walter had it really shouldn't surprise me someone would try and rip it from his hands."

Junior nodded, "Yeah, but it's not going to be easy for him or anyone to do that and not have the entire underworld after their head. Nobody wants to be ruled over."

"So what's with the jamming of our scrolls? Is that Brutus's fault as well?"

"Yeah, he managed to snag himself some fancy new Atlesian tech that hasn't hit the shelves yet. Wants to use it to keep the police responses slow so that he can attack other kingpins. Don't know where he got it from though, he wouldn't say."

Probably didn't want to reveal his source to his enemies.

Junior and I talked for the next hour and he gave me a recommendation to stay out of all of this. But I don't think I'd be able to do that, I enjoyed Walter's company and I don't like the idea of the person responsible for bringing chaos to the criminal world being it's new de facto leader. Walter's death is still relatively recent so the underworld is still reeling from the shock, but that's not going to last. Already Junior says other small-time and big-time criminals were beginning to try and move themselves up before it's too late. It was only a matter of time until criminals were fighting each other out in the open streets.

And when that happens I don't doubt that things will get hairy. The police will try and bring back order but won't be able to contain that many criminals at once. Add the fact that tensions and emotions are going to be wild and dark and then you'd find the Grimm will start converging on the city. At that point, Hunters will be called to cull the Grimm and the criminals alike. I'd rather not fight an army of Hunters.

When I finally came back to the warehouse I could see that everyone was here. Neo was sitting on some boxes while kicking her feet childishly and it looks like she went clothes shopping as I can see that she was now wearing what she wore in the show minus the umbrella. She was smirking evilly at a few of my men as said men were cowering in fear from the little she-devil. I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention, "Alright, alright, enough playing around now, we have some work to do if we're going to come out on top of this situation." Everyone put their attention away from the sight of two grown men prostrating themselves before a small woman and quickly went back to work.

"Neo, Jerry," I said, waving the two in question over to my little planning corner. "We have some work to do of our own."

* * *

 **(A/N) It's time to kick off into one of the arcs I've made for this story!)**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 56 (Next Level: 98,980/153,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,556**

 **HP Regen: 71.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 6,553 [4,228 + 211.4(5%) + 2,114(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 688/min [327.7(base 5%) + 327.7(100%) + (32.8(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 100**

 **Lien: 2,492,620**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	22. Chapter 22

**(A/N) Greetings and I hope you enjoy.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 22**

The three of us went over to the table in front of the map on the wall while I lit a cigar at the same time. Instead of using that, it was mostly to plan heists and other stuff, I pulled out another map with a flick of my wrist and unrolled it out on the table, "Before we begin I just want to mention that right now Vale's underworld is in huge trouble."

Neo tilted her head and Jerry, who's now effectively my third in command, spoke up, "Why's that boss?"

"Walter is dead, killed by Brutus Washer."

Jerry's mouth dropped open and he sat down into one of the chairs surrounding the table, probably so he can piece what I said together. Neo looked over at me, confused.

"Walter was the top dog in Vale's underworld, old enough to be involved in the Great War and build his criminal gang over time. There wasn't much that went on that he didn't know about. Brutus Washer is one of the more influential kingpins around here, got himself some fancy Atlesian tech that lets him silence calls and the net. Once he killed Walter he and the rest of the other top kingpins are making moves to claim what's left."

"But that's crazy!" Jerry nearly shouted, making Neo and I look over at him. "Why would the other kingpins not come together to get rid of Brutus first, he's clearly a threat to stability."

I exhaled smoke from my mouth and pointed at my subordinate with the cigar, "Greed, Jerry. Greed and whatever power they can dig up from the remains. Each kingpin is only looking after themselves and their group, they don't want to share the wealth and each has the idea of becoming the next Walter in their head. None of them dared to even think about killing Walter before, and now that someone has tried and succeeded they'll all scramble to get whatever they can. Bunch of scavengers, the lot. Can't muster up the balls to try it themselves, but would gladly take advantage of an opportunity."

Neo waved a hand and I nodded at her. She held up a scroll she must've bought and I leaned in to read the text, " _What about the lesser gangs?"_

"It's likely the lesser gangs and kingpins, myself included, will try and grab what they can during the chaos. They'll let the big guys fight amongst each other while trying to garner as little attention as possible. These guys will be our first obstacles, right now we just don't have the manpower to challenge the bigger gangs and the big guys also have huntsman level fighters. No sane or barely competent criminal gang wouldn't have at least a few at that level because if they didn't then even a smaller gang could wipe them out."

I wryly grinned at Neo, "With the two of us we can steamroll the smaller gangs alone, the stronger guys typically go for the bigger gangs, more money that way."

Neo grinned back at me, she seemed excited to go to battle with a bunch of weak opponents.

I took another puff from my cigar and exhaled, "Of course, we won't be getting in direct fights with the other major kingpins anyway."

Jerry sputtered and looked like he was about to protest while Neo tilted her head, confused as well.

I cut Jerry off with a wave of my hand before he started, "We're criminals, not an army, Jerry. We don't roam the streets and start large firefights, that's a great way to have the city bear its weight down on us and bring all the wrong sorts of attention. Do you want to deal with Ozpin and his students if things go really south? I don't. Hell, even as a bigger group, the other major kingpins wouldn't do that. Sure, they could send in men in a few vans to quickly raid a smaller gang and get away with it, but it would still be loud, obvious, and take a long enough time that it would bring a lot of heat if they did the same thing to larger gangs."

Jerry nodded, still unsure but he seemed to respect and understand my reasoning.

"It's best to deal with the major players piece by piece," I said. "A quick attack at a place run by that kingpin here, incapacitate or kill a few men there. Take out one of their best fighters when he or she is vulnerable and leave the enemy reeling in shock that they have one less advantage. Soon, even as a major player in the city, the combined wounds we would deal to them would bleed them dry and they'd crumble under their own weight. We're small, so guerrilla warfare is our only option."

Neo and Jerry nodded along with me, why risk yourself and all of your underlings trying to fruitlessly attack an enemy head-on when you can just do it a little bit at a time?

I looked down at the map on the table that had been forgotten in the conversation, I pulled out a box of varying colored pins and began poking them into the paper. When I was finished a lot of the map was covered with pins of varying colors, it looked like some war map that showed enemy and allied positions which given the context was probably not that far off.

Jerry and Neo looked down at my creation as I pointed to an area near the entrance to the river to Beacon and covered with orange pins. "This here is our turf," I said, tapping the map with a finger. I moved my finger over to the middle ground between the commercial and industrial districts, "Brutus has most of this area under his direct or indirect influence. Price Baron has his area in the commercial district and a bit of the residential. And Miss Nightshade, real name unknown, has her little slice of heaven all the way down in the agricultural district." I tapped the area covered with black pins as emphasis.

"However, I'd like to point out a few pins that might seem out of place," I remarked, gesturing at a few scattered pins that were placed around the map, seemingly at random. "These pins are obviously the same color as Brutus's pins. Now, as I've already mentioned, thanks to Junior I know that Brutus recently acquired Atlesian technology that is responsible for the jamming going on in Vale. These pins are where I believe one of the machines responsible is located based on the fact that his men seem to go in and out of them, plus one hidden on in Brutus's turf."

" _You want to attack them, then?"_ came Neo's question.

I nodded, "I do, but not right now. Despite the fact that they keep us from easy contact with each other they also have the benefit of making sure the police don't bother us much. I want some men keeping an eye on the buildings and seeing if they can get a glimpse at what the machines look like, even Junior doesn't know that bit."

Jerry nodded, "I'll get on that boss, I know a few of the men that are good at sneaking around and keeping an eye on things."

I nodded and continued, "I've also included the turfs of smaller gangs that are nearest to us, these will be our first targets for supplies and money. Neo and I will go in first to take out as many of their men as we can, the rest of the men will come in to clean up and take everything back with us."

"We'll need more vehicles if we want to move most of our men quickly," Jerry added.

I smirked at him, "I'm sure the men won't mind a nice walk through town for at least one mission, and I'm sure our rivals won't miss any of their own vehicles once we give them a visit."

Neo grinned in anticipation.

* * *

Neo and I stood on top of a nearby building the next night, staring down at the enemy place of business in front of us. My, or I should say _our_ , men were getting ready by pulling our weapons from out of the vans in a parking lot not too far from us. The building we were going to raid had its own collection of vans parked in its front. A perfect amount for around thirty people, which was the amount I brought with us. I doubted I'd need that many, but right now wasn't the time for subtly committing crimes, with the jamming going on it actually helps me a little. Cops would only show long after we were done here.

Plus, thirty people would make the stealing part go a lot quicker. I don't know the exact quantity of goods they have here, but this place was big and had a decent sized storehouse attached to it like a lot of places in the industrial district. I looked down at Jerry and he gave me a signal to let me know they were ready to attack five minutes after we begin, as planned. I nodded at him and patted Neo on her shoulder.

"It's time."

Neo grinned up at me and hopped off the edge of the building. She still had her old weapon, her umbrella was going to be finished tomorrow she told me, but since these guys weren't likely to have a strong person in their midst I wasn't too worried. She was deadly even without a weapon anyway.

I hopped off the building immediately after her and we quickly ran up to the door of the building, Neo reached the door first and kicked it open. The door went flying off its hinges and bounced off the floor a few times before slamming into some unfortunate soul. The men gathered around gaped at our brazen entrance like they didn't know how to respond to this.

I waved my arms to the side, "Honey, I'm home!" I pointed my cane and fired off into the throng of people, sending them scattering. Neo leaped into action, kicking and weaving around the weak grunts like a ballerina. I sprung forth as well, activating **Power of Aura** as I slid under one of the men's feet, hooking my cane around his ankle as I got up. I slammed him face first on the ground as I yanked his feet out from under him and then swung him around to throw him at one group of his friends.

I jabbed another man in his nose with the handle of my cane when he tried to rush me from the side, kneed him in the stomach, and then brought my can down over his head. He went down limp as I jumped into the air to avoid a swing of an ax, slamming my foot into the face of the failed ambusher. The man flew away as another took aim with his gun and fired, the shot missed and he tried again and again as I dashed at him. I deflected his shots with Melodic Cudgel and rammed my fist into his solar plexus, he wheezed for air and I put him out of his misery by slamming his head with my cane.

My side was finished and I looked over at Neo to see that she was just finishing. Her legs were wrapped around a man's face and in any normal situation I'd be jealous, but then she quickly bent backward and dragged the man's body with the motion. Her body contorted and she slammed his head into the ground.

My men came into the building not long after and quickly began tying the enemy up with zip ties.

"Jerry, you take some men and clear up the second floor, Neo and I will take the storage."

Jerry nodded and waved for a chunk of the goons to follow him up.

Clearing out the storage was an easy enough task that it barely took us any time at all to finish. None of my men were wounded and only one of them took any hit to his aura thanks to a stray bullet. I already had them looking through the containers and boxes, I wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting out of all of this.

As Neo and I were watching the men work I heard footsteps approach, the two of us looked over to see Jerry, a little banged up, and the other men dragging a portly looking man over. He was dressed to make it look like he was rich but it was obvious he wasn't terribly wealthy. His suit was third rate at best and his jewelry was not made of gold, only painted bronze according to my **Observe**.

"Any reason you brought this guy to me, Jerry?" I asked mildly annoyed as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Sorry boss, but this guy is the boss of these people. Thought you'd want to question him. We got the stuff in his safe, wasn't much there, and all of the keys to his cars."

Well, at least he got the valuables.

"I suppose I can talk to him, go and get all of the vehicles ready to load and go."

I eyed the man before me with mild disinterest, not even bothering to look at his name, as Jerry went to go and complete his orders, Neo looked down with boredom at him as well. The man was shaking in fear as he looked up at me, all the more reason to not like him. No spine.

"P-Please, don't kill me Torchwick," he stuttered.

"I wouldn't stain my hands with your worthless death," I dryly remarked, "I'm only here for the goods you have stored here. I'm actually surprised you have so much considering you don't look wealthy at all. At least my suits are from well-respected establishments."

The man's eyes widened and he crawled forward to my feet, "No! Please don't take those goods! I beg you, Price will have my head if I can't move them in time! If they're gone he'll take out his lost profit on me and I have barely managed to stay afloat so far! And with Walter's death everything has gone to shit!"

I rose an eyebrow, "You can't be serious, the great Baron can't move his own goods? What kind of a business is he even running all the way over there?"

"H-He's been getting problems from some she-devil policewoman and the local students from Beacon! He needs to outsource until that's been taken care of! Please, Torchwick, as one small timer to another don't ruin this chance for me!"

Ugh, does this guy have any pride at all?

Neo evidently has had enough of the fat man's groveling and kicked him in the temple with her foot, knocking him out instantly.

I sighed, "Thank you, Neo. He was getting annoying."

She gave me a thumbs up and we went back to silently watching my men work.

Annoying groveling aside, that guy did give me some valuable information. Seems like Price Baron has his hands full with Jeanette Arc if the she-devil policewoman is referring to her of course. Naturally, this is mostly his fault for setting up shop mostly in the commercial district anyway. The police there are much smarter, and more competent, than the ones down here in the industrial district. That map the Roman I know from the show is true to its word about the cops.

Let's not forget about the students from Beacon. No students I'd know, they aren't old enough yet, but maybe Ozpin is sending in backup. Things are brewing up to be pretty nasty and the police wouldn't be able to keep it all contained by themselves. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few Beacon bullheads flying over the city now and then for "training missions" sometime in the future.

What the fool knocked out at my feet provided is good, my first target among the major kingpins.

 **Quest Created!**

 **The Baron and the Thief**

 **According to you, it's time to bring down one of the kingpins in Vale, Price Baron, and become that much closer to ending this gang war.**

 **Rewards: 2,000,000EXP, 1,500,000 Lien, new title, storyline progression, increased influence within the criminal underworld, skill book.**

 **Failure: Humiliation, loss of respect and influence in the criminal underworld, storyline progression.**

Looks like failure is not an option, I don't like the possibility of humiliation and loss of respect. Plus, there's the fact that I can get some good experience, lien, and a title and skill book. All the things that I can appreciate in life. And with Price out of the picture I can focus on one of the two remaining major kingpins, it would most likely be Miss Nightshade as I can see Brutus being the "final boss" of these, probably three, quests. He's the one who started all of this, it only makes sense.

I accepted the quest and the rest of the night went in a blur, soon enough the warehouse was empty of everything I deemed of value. Dust, weapons, ammunition, and Lien to name just a few of the goods we'll need. Neo yawned cutely as we got inside a van and drive off, it was about time for her to go to bed anyway, she needed to get up tomorrow and pick up her weapon from Marigold. I was planning on staying up and leveling my skills and finally taking a look at that title I received after completing Neo's quest.

Once we were back at base Neo waved me goodnight and went upstairs to the room I had prepared for her yesterday. I sat down at the map table and let myself relax as I fed my Aura into **Expel Aura** and let it begin leveling up once more. I pulled out the list of titles I've gained from my time spent here and browsed through them until I finally found the one I was looking for.

 **[Partners in Crime - Unique Title]**

 **A title received when you finally found the one partner you want to spend your criminal life with.**

 **-You instinctively know how to fight well with your partner and cover each other's back.**

 **-All damage done when protecting your partner, or vice versa, is doubled. This applies after all other damage multipliers are taken into effect. Also applies to damage over time.**

 **-You will always have a vague sense of the direction your partner is in.**

 **-All money and experience earned from mobs or quests are tripled when you are working with your partner.**

 **-This title can be equipped alongside another.**

I immediately equipped it when I saw that it could be equipped alongside another title and I felt the effect instantly when I could vaguely tell that Neo wasn't too far off. That was too convenient to not use to my advantage when it has these benefits. Sure, it might not be the best for solo stuff like me using the dungeons I find, but hell if it isn't useful for the current climate of Vale. Neo will be sticking to my side like glue during our time here, only venturing away from each other when we need to.

She's my little psycho bodyguard and friend. What more could I ask for?

* * *

 **(A/N) Short this time, I know. But don't worry, this story arc is long enough to make up for any short chapters in it. And there** _ **will**_ **be some chapters here and there that are only over three thousand or barely snuggling up to four. They are mostly there to set up a beginning to a bigger plot point, or transition from one bigger plot point to another.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 56 (Next Level: 98,980/153,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,556**

 **HP Regen: 71.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 6,553 [4,228 + 211.4(5%) + 2,114(50%)]**

 **MP Regen: 688/min [327.7(base 5%) + 327.7(100%) + (32.8(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (10), Wind (10), Fire (10), Ice (10), Lightning (10)**

 **Attribute Points: 100**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	23. Chapter 23

**(A/N) Almost at 100k words!**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 23**

After the raid, we spent most of the following seven days sorting through everything stolen, planning for the future and doing one more attack on another rival of mine. We didn't get much from that attack, material value or information, small-time gangs usually don't have a lot of things on hand and this guy, in particular, didn't know about anything going on in the city. He was never going to make it in this business anyway, best to just let him roll over and die now that he was basically ruined.

Now that I was back in Vale I've been thinking about going back to that dungeon I marked on my mini-map. With all of my new elementals, I could lay down some firepower to kill whatever monster that's guarding that place. I really want what's inside that chest I saw, it has "special item" written all over it. I might be able to create some new spells and practice with the ones I have, I haven't had much of a chance to use my full abilities lately and I want to stretch my legs a bit.

I've also been contemplating about when it would be time for me to acquire a bullhead or two for my own personal use. Having some air support for just about anything would make my life easier in the long run, but with Walter gone I don't think I can just easily buy one off someone else. At least not in Vale, I might be able to get some from someone in Vacuo but that might cost me a pretty penny. Might just be easier to steal a few right here in Vale. At the very least I should see about getting a flying skill and reading up on Bullheads so I know if I'm going to need to remove things to keep people from tracking me.

Of course, that is all going to have to wait until this whole mess is situated first.

As of the past few days, I've had some of my men play recon and give Price's territory a good look over. I've made small circles, in classic black marker, over prime targets to go for on the map alongside marking his main base with extra arrow emphasis and a small note saying "Main base!". Right now a few of the circles were over high-end stores and most of the others were smaller stores or apartments scattered around the area, places where Price made his legitimate money to cover up his illegitimate.

He had a few warehouses along the riverside as well, likely where he had most of his less than legal stuff sitting around hidden among the legal goods he had for his other stores. He couldn't move any of that illegal stuff with the police watching, however. That was fine by me, it just made him into a stationary target.

I wasn't sure what kind of truly illegal things Price was dealing with, that pathetic guy Neo knocked out a week back only had some high-grade Dust and weapons. "Sure, having that stuff was moderately illegal without the correct license, but it wasn't really noteworthy," I thought to myself as I poured enough Aura into **Expel Aura** to finally push my **Aura** skill into leveling up.

 **[Aura has gained a level!]**

Thanks to that skill my Aura level has risen very rapidly. Thanks to that new level it's resting at a comfortable and even eighty, at the same time the extra effect increased by another twenty-five percent, boosting my Aura to a little over seventy-six hundred.

 **Aura Lv80 (Passive/Active) EXP 4.9%: The manifestation of your soul. When active it creates a sort of force field around your body, protecting it from harm.**

 **Passively increases all stats except LUK by 30%.**

 **When active, increases all stats except LUK by 60% and allows MP to be used as a second health bar.**

 **Extra effect(lv75): 75% extra aura.**

 **Cost: MP regen disabled until deactivated. (Parameters to remove this cost not yet achieved)**

My **Summon Elemental** skill finally reached max level and prestiged into a bronze skill. I opened up my skill menu to see if anything changed about the skill, it was my first to reach a new tier after all.

 **Summon Elemental - lv1 (Bronze)**

 **Can summon 22 elementals.**

 **Elementals have turned into lesser elementals.**

 **All affinities gained are doubled.**

 **Cost: 5MP/Min**

Not much changed about the actual itself, except for the affinities doubling. I wasn't sure what those did so I closed the skill menu and pulled up my status, I tapped on my earth affinity since it was the first one I got and that felt appropriate. The affinities, as I learned, increased my defense against a certain element and increased my damage done with it as well. Each point of the affinity increased my defense by one percent, so an affinity at ten would give a ten percent reduction when taking damage by that element. The same happened with the damage I dealt, only it increased the damage people take from me.

" _So, if I got my affinities to one hundred each, would that make me immune to most Dust damage and double mine dealt?"_ I thought to myself, that was stupidly broken if you consider that most Hunters and people, in general, use Dust for most everything. It would make people need to do physical damage to me in order to hurt me and, if I may be so bold, would basically mean the Maidens are of almost no threat either. To me, at least. Cinder is going to scream with fury when she realizes she can't do much to me with her powers.

I couldn't help the evil chuckle that escaped my lips and went past my cigar at that thought, making a few of my men walking by look at me nervously. I glared at them and they went scrambling back to work, I don't need anyone ruining my moments of evil, mocking laughter.

A scroll was shoved into my field of vision.

" _What are you laughing about?"_

I gently shoved the offending bit of technology out of my face and stared down at Neo, amused. I shrugged, "Just imagining the moment I finally get to wring Brutus's neck."

Neo nodded in approval and held her scroll back up into my face, " _That's good, everyone needs some revenge now and then."_

I blew out smoke, "I couldn't agree more, Neo." I eyed her, she seemed to be nearly bouncing on her feet. "Now, what's gotten you all excited and should I be worried?"

Neo just grinned and held up her scroll once more, she seemed to know exactly what I was about to say since she was already typing her response out, " _Show me around the city, I want to have fun. We've been doing nothing but planning and work all week, I say we deserve a break."_

A break did sound appealing and it was the middle of the day so most places would be open…

"Alright," I gave in after a few moments, "Just let me change into something a little less distinctive."

* * *

It's interesting to note that Vale's economy didn't stop moving with the phones and internet being blocked in the city. People were still moving down the sidewalks all across the city and businesses were still full to some capacity. Heck, with everything being down I'm a little positive more people than usual were out right now. No reason to just stay indoors for most people.

I was a little surprised at Neo's insistence that I show her around Vale but I was more than happy to oblige. Truthfully I've been on Remnant for about five months and I've never taken the time to get to know the city. Most of my time moving through the city was spent going between jobs, going to Junior's, or going to Walter's. And that time I spent eating noodles and going to the mall. This was as much for me as it was for Neo.

Speaking of Neo, she was gleefully skipping along next to me while looking at the sites around us. We were walking down a street in the commercial district, one of the better and wealthier streets we found when it comes to basically everything. I had confessed my lack of knowledge about the city itself to Neo and, truthfully, said I was rather new to the city as well. She took it in stride and grinned up at me, saying that we get to experience the city for the first time together.

I shared her enthusiasm because it had finally hit completely home after all these months, I was in the world of RWBY and I was not going out of my way to explore the place I've always wanted to see. I was focusing way too much on work, and while that work was important I should still appreciate the little things.

Our first stop along this street was a quaint cafe, we already had an early lunch back at base but a small snack sounded good. Neo was the first to enter, not bothering to hold the door open long enough for me to grab it. I awkwardly flailed my hand forward and managed to snag the door before it closed, I sighed and entered the shop. My short partner was already in line and pointing out what she wanted to the awkward teenager behind the counter.

I could already see he was trying really hard to not look down her shirt and it made me almost laugh.

"I have whatever she's having," I said as the kid started to put in her order. I leaned down to whisper to Neo, "What _are_ you getting anyway?"

She mimed eating from a bowl and I could already guess what she got.

"...Cereal?" I couldn't help but get it intentionally wrong and she knew it.

Neo looked up at my face with a raised eyebrow and I couldn't keep the amused smirk off my face. I gave in eventually and just paid for the both of us, we moved to one of the outside dining tables and sat down to watch other people walk by. It might have sounded boring to other people but to Neo, it seemed like a blast. I guess people watching in a new place would be great fun to someone who never saw a whole lot of new people before if she wasn't killing them.

The two of us sat there, watching people walk down the streets. I gave a few of them funny backstories to get a laugh out of Neo, she gave it her best shot too but was only able to do one at a time with her limitation. But I do think I was getting a better feel about how she was as a person, I didn't even need to use my **Observe** on her in order to mostly understand her language. Nevertheless, that was how we let time pass us by until our order finally arrived. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her choice.

"Neapolitan ice cream? Little on the nose don't you think?" Neo just shrugged her shoulders at me and promptly dug into her ice-cream. For me, I was just surprised a cafe even served ice-cream. Then again, this stuff looks and tastes homemade and the strawberry part even has tiny bits of actual strawberry mixed in. It was pretty good.

After our stop at the cafe, we wandered around the city for a few more hours. A lot of the city itself had old styled buildings mixed in with the sleeker and newer ones, most likely a result of being attacked or just remodeling for the building owners. It was with melancholy that I had to bring up the fact that we couldn't wander around too much longer. We had another job tonight and I didn't want us to be too tired from all the walking and also staying up late.

At first, Neo didn't want to even budge from her spot. Really, she was pouting like a kid.

I had to bribe her with the promise that we'll check out more of the city next week. She seemed to become instantly agreeable and I had the distinct impression I was being manipulated while also missing out on some crucial detail. But as I didn't get any sort of notification I decided to just drop it. The two of us began our walk back to base, we took the scenic route since we weren't needed just yet. The grunts could handle the prep.

* * *

I spun in the air and delivered a final kick into the abdomen of the boss of this rival gang.

 **[Unarmed Mastery has gained a level!]**

 **[Martial Arts Mastery has gained a level!]**

The man grunted painfully as he was launched from my foot and into a crate, said crate spilled its contents everywhere around the man. Neo landed gracefully next to me, spinning her now open umbrella over her shoulder. She didn't have a scratch on her. I jerked my head at the barely conscious rival while looking at a pair of grunts and they scrambled to pick him up and bring him over to me.

He was promptly dragged over and seemed to barely be able to keep himself conscious, forcing my men to have to hold him up by his arms. He looked up at me, blinking away a small bit of blood that managed to drip into his eyes from a gash on his forehead. After a brief wait while I let him gather his wits he spoke up, "Why... are you doing this?"

"That's a very good question," I said as I twirled my cane and jabbed a finger in the air between us. "You see I just so happened to have come across some information that you've been working with one of the big three gangs. And, well, I have some plans for them."

"I don't know nothing about that, Torchwick," he said. I wasn't surprised, I expected him to deny working with the Baron, I would have too if I was in his position.

I made sure to have **Observe** on him just in case he was lying about anything else, just in case.

"You see," I started, "I don't really believe you. Not when my men have seen Price's men come and go through _your_ base." I've been keeping tabs on my rivals down here in the industrial district, it's important to know the ins and outs of the place you live in.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he stubbornly resisted, once again it wasn't surprising. Respectable, instead. Much better than the first rival I took care of since coming back to Vale, at least this guy isn't begging for his life.

Still, I sighed dramatically and tapped the length of my cane on the crown of his head, "Your loyalty is admirable, truly, but all I want to know is how many other small-time gangs are working for Baron."

He gritted his teeth, "And like I've said, I don't know anything about that!"

I released a breath, "Well, I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice." I paused for dramatic effect, "I'll just let Neo here take good care of you," I pointed to said girl, "And let her do whatever she wants with you, short of killing."

I saw her pout at my little restriction, but she glared down at the other man with a predatory smirk anyway, I could feel her anticipation. He wisely gulped as he eyed her with trepidation, and I too could feel the intent to kill and I wasn't even in her line of sight when she gave it. Neo lifted her umbrella up and enticingly dragged the blade out of it, walking slowly behind the man. He gritted his teeth, "I don't know anyth- argh!"

He screamed in pain as Neo took her blade and rammed it through the bottom of his foot.

I stepped in and leaned down so that he was eye to eye with me, "Ready to talk now?" He spat in my face. Or at least tried to, I leaned out of the way just in time and watched the glob of spit and blood fly by. I glowered down at him, legitimately angry now and not sorry at all for what's about to happen, "Have it your way."

I nodded at my partner and she grinned, slammed her heeled foot down onto the wound she just made, digging and twisting her foot into the wound with reckless abandon. He roared in pain again and slumped down, breathing heavily and whimpering. I was about to tell Neo to continue but I was interrupted by Jerry, who had come jogging towards us with papers in hand.

"I got something you might want to check out, boss," Jerry said, handing over the papers to me.

I didn't say anything as I flicked through them, they were shipment schedules our man here must have been keeping for his own records, the shipments were from one of Price Baron's warehouses. He must have found a way to move the illegal things he has stashed away out of the eyes of the cops, I glanced over at the smashed crate the man crashed into and its contents. Packages of white powder littered the floor around the crate and I finally understood what illegal things Price Baron was getting into. Drug distribution. Very profitable, not many people were doing it and that might be because of him. I don't have any real thoughts about the drug issue myself, but I did just come up with a few ways to make his pockets hurt.

"It seems to me," I said, making the man turn his head to me as the pain from Neo's heel settled down, "That you've been lying to me. These papers seem to be saying something different than what you've been telling me."

He groaned and I don't know if that was a reply or him just being in pain.

"So," I eyed him carefully, "Are you working with Price Baron?"

He was silent for a few moments, probably thinking everything over and if it was worth it to keep up this charade. Evidently, he decided it wasn't and just said, "Yeah, I am. He's been hiring small timers he trusts to distribute his merchandise."

Well, I guess that explains why the first guy didn't have any. He wasn't trustworthy.

"And, who are the others working for him?"

He rattled off a list a dozen strong, I had Jerry taking notes of their names. Once I was satisfied, **Observe** told me that he was being truthful, I waved at my men to let the man down. He slumped forward, barely managing to catch himself on his hands. Neo looked disappointed that she wasn't going to do anything else to him and I just gave her an apologetic look as she walked back to my side.

I looked over at the men I brought along with me and waved them forward, "Alright, search the boxes. I want anything useful to be brought back with us, leave the drugs here. We're going to burn them and make the city a nice and cozy campfire!"

My men quickly went to work, cracking open all of the crates and peering inside them.

"Torchwick."

I looked over at the other boss curiously, "Hmm? Look, if it's about burning this place to the ground-"

"No," he cut me off, "I mean I want you to kill me." He must have seen my look of surprise because he laughed, "If Price finds out I told you anything then he'll come and kill me anyway. And he'll take his time killing me, maybe weeks. I'd rather just get it over with, I've already lost everything and I don't want to suffer anymore."

I silently looked him over, he did look like a mess but that was to be expected. I don't hold anything against him, to be honest, he just so happened to be working for someone I want to bring down. But he was right, Price would not take him giving information away lightly, and he would most certainly know the man in front of me gave information away once I started going for the others, he'd be lucky if he lasted a week. I nodded at him.

"Neo," she looked over at me with a gleam in her eyes, "would you do the honors?"

She licked her lips and strode back to the man, silently circling back behind him. The man himself seemed resigned to his fate even as Neo kicked him in the back and sent him sprawling on the floor. He didn't even fight back as her foot came back down on the small of his back, she gleefully raised her hidden sword in the air, it stayed up in the air for the briefest of moments just before it plunged down through his back and into his heart.

"Make sure to place him with the drugs when its time to light this place up," I told Jerry, who seemed disturbed by the sight of Neo happily killing a man but still nodded and went back to work. I just looked over the sheet of paper Jerry used to write down the names of the gangs working with Price.

Later that night I once again found myself hunched over the map, I ran out of different pins to mark different targets so I just circled the gangs that I needed to take out with a marker. I put an "X" over the place we just came back from and one on the two places we went to before. Neo was busy cleaning and sharpening her umbrella blade as I sighed at the number of places we needed to hit.

Neo looked over at me and tilted her head, I just shook my head and said, "It's nothing."

She just shrugged and went back to maintaining her new toy.

* * *

 **(A/N) Make sure to check out the short omake just below the stats and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And look, Roman is finally leveling his Aura quickly and he reached his first prestige skill!**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 56 (Next Level: 108,538/153,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,556**

 **HP Regen: 71.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 7,610 [4,228 + 211.4(5%) + 3,171(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 799.05/min [380.5(base 5%) + 380.5(100%) + (38.05(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 100**

 **Lien: 3,841,783**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**

 **Omake:**

She stared, wide-eyed, at the man across the street eating ice-cream without a care in the world. She bit her lip at the man's brazen attitude, a criminal like him walking around the city in broad daylight with only a change of clothes working as a thin disguise. The worst part was that she couldn't just walk up to him, not with all of the civilians in the area and the fact that she was on a mission right now.

"Torchwick," Jeanette growled under her breath.


	24. Chapter 24

**(A/N) Have a very merry Halloween everyone! And let's enjoy the feeling of reaching over 100k words while we eat candy today.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 24**

I breathed in the forest air as deeply as I could, it's been a while since I last came here to do any sort of Grimm killing. Really, mindlessly killing and grinding on an infinite source of enemies was relaxing in a sort of odd way. I was glad to take a few hours to myself, even if the day was rather hot.

I ducked under an Ursa's pair of slashing paws as I mused over the fact that I enjoy the thought of endless slaughter and going on about the weather. I grabbed one of its limbs and pulled myself up to repeatedly slam my cane into its jaw with a few **Power Strikes**. The Grimm's health dropped by a few hundred with each hit until it hit zero with a final critical hit and the Ursa disappeared into black smoke, leaving behind a couple Dust crystals.

 **[Power Strike has gained a level!]**

 **[Martial Arts Mastery has gained a level!]**

I wiped my brow to rid myself of imaginary sweat, that was the last Ursa in this dungeon. I motioned to Rumble to collect all of the drops and the earth under my feet shuddered for the briefest of moments until the dirt opened up and spat out the earnings. Dust crystals and various Grimm parts, alongside the odd health potion or two, were the rewards for this dungeon. Unfortunately, a boss didn't show up but then the dungeon was rather small and didn't take long to complete.

After shoving everything into my inventory I left the dungeon and pulled out my minimap.

"Let's see," I said to myself as I rubbed my chin, "The dungeon should be around… here!"

I grinned as I found the dungeon I marked before I left for Vacuo, according to my dungeon finder skill it was still there. Interestingly, dungeons don't disappear on their own, I need to actually "complete" them before they disappear and a new one spawns sometime later. What's more, they don't only spawn in the forests around Vale either, according to my map and my skill there are a few scattered around the city itself.

I dashed off into the forest towards my destination, I still had a few hours to kill before I was needed back at the warehouse.

It didn't take long to reach the dungeon, it was never that far from the city anyway. I wasted no time going into the dungeon, making sure to accept the notification I got as soon as it appeared. The world shimmered for the briefest of moments before settling back to normal, but the absence of wildlife made it clear that this place was not natural. I slowed my dash down to a quick jog as I made my way to the central clearing, only stopping to kill any low leveled Grimm that got in my way.

The clearing had not changed since I'd last been here, not that I expected it to at any rate.

The four Nuckelavee Minors were still patrolling around the chest, the only thing they did differently was to give me a passing look when my head poked over the bush. After giving me a glance they went back walking. Well, if they weren't going to attack, then I should be the one to do the honors.

I stood up to full height and raised a hand, pouring Aura into a **Spiral Aura Bolt**. I didn't bother putting any elemental effects into it, I wanted to see if it could kill one of them in a single hit by itself. I didn't skimp on putting Aura into it however and let it loose on the closest Nuckelavee Minor, the Aura ball of death shot from my hand like a cannon and slammed into the side of the Grimm. It screamed in pain and rage as its health dropped down to zero in a single second, bursting into black smoke.

The other three didn't take too kindly to that and let out their rage-filled screams before charging me head on. I didn't stand around and dashed around the edge of the clearing just as the arm of one of the nuckelavee's crashed into the spot I was just in. I responded by flinging **Far Strike** after **Far Strike** at the one that attacked, gashes appeared over the Grimm's skin and its health dropped.

I broke out of the clearing's edge and flipped my cane, pointing the barrel at the other two at that didn't waste time. I fired shot after shot from my cane but only a couple landed on the Grimm, the others went wide and hit the ground around them, sending chunks of earth flying into the air. One of the nuckelavee's finally got close, its arms stretching to try and grab me. I hopped over the offending limb, using my connection to Rumble to make the ground under the horse's hooves to violently shift.

The Grimm was still charging so the sudden shift in balance made it trip and roll past me in an ungraceful heap. Once it finished its sliding stop I had Rumble send pillars of earth shooting over its limbs, locking them in place. I didn't get to enjoy the victory for long, I grunted as a black hand slammed into my side and sent me tumbling across the clearing. My aura took a hit, but I was otherwise fine.

I picked myself off the ground and dusted myself off as I grumbled, "Well, that's what I get for not paying attention…"

I brought Wisp the air elemental out and used her control over the air to give myself flight, I dismissed Rumble when I was over the battlefield, dodging black hands as they stretched from the Grimm down below. Now was the time to finally use the fire elemental.

A ball of fire appeared near me, forming into the shape of a man.

" **Greetings, Roman, I see that you have finally summoned me,"** Ragnaros said.

"Yeah, I could use some firepower right now," I said as I held up a hand. A fireball formed over the palm of my hand and I launched it at the head of a nuckelavee as Wisp and I dodged around another hand. The ball of fire exploded and dealt a decent amount of damage, the Grimm was even on fire.

Said Grimm was screeching as the fire burnt away its body.

" **My fire purges these spawn of darkness, it will always linger on their bodies,"** Ragnaros stated.

That was good to know, it let me focus on the other two while the third was distracted. Two more fireballs formed over my palms and I sent them down, these Grimm don't appear to be too smart since they didn't dodge the flaming balls of destruction. The fireballs exploded and covered them in fire, making the screeching even worse. I could feel a headache already forming.

Nevertheless, I took advantage of the distractions and created another **Spiral Aura Bolt** , mixing Ragnaros's fire with the spell to make a burning ball of fire. I launched it at the two nuckelavees and they were consumed by the explosion of fire, vaporizing the Grimm and their drops. I topped myself up with a Dust crystal and looked at the last Grimm just in time to move out of the way of another hand grab.

"These guys just don't stop," I muttered while I flung fireballs, **Binds** , and **Far Strikes**. The fight didn't last much longer after that.

Now, it was time to see what was inside that chest.

I approached the chest in the center of the clearing, now that I was closer I could see that the fancy decorations on it were actually writing of some sort. I couldn't read any of it so I dismissed it as unimportant, I brushed moss off the area where the lock was supposed to be and attempted to push the top open. It didn't budge an inch on the first try and I tried again with more strength. When that failed I growled with annoyance, braced my feet on the ground, and threw everything I had onto pulling the lid of the chest open. When the ground under my feet began to shake I almost thought that I was lifting so hard the dirt under me wanted to move, up until I found myself in the air as the ground move upwards.

I tripped over the edge of the now airborne ground, the chest following suit. I landed on the ground butt first and the chest slammed into the dirt, embedding itself an inch or two. I looked up at what caused this and found myself staring at a large rock golem easily twenty-five feet tall. It did not look like the golems in the comics, it had two glowing yellow eyes and a more detailed face with a square and chiseled jaw. I wasn't sure why it had such a detailed face as it did not seem to be conveying any emotions, but I wasn't all too concerned about that.

I was more concerned about what was above its head.

 **[You have entered a Boss battle! Defeat the boss to win!]**

 **[Guardian of the Doorway]**

 **Lv? Rock Golem**

" _Maybe I should've thought this through more…"_ I thought to myself as I gazed up at the monstrosity above me.

I scrambled to move as the golem raised its foot, the rocky foot slammed down on the ground and I felt myself being picked up from the force and thrown across the clearing. My Aura took a minor hit from that but I wasn't in any danger. I called on Wisp to pick me up and we flew over the clearing once more, I glared down at the golem and it slowly turned around, trying to track me.

It was slow, that was good. But I needed more information on it.

" _Observe!"_

 **[Rock Golem Lv?]**

 **The ancient guardian of the door to choice. The only mission given to it is to prevent unwanted people from reaching what lays beyond, only one may enter the inner sanctum without incurring its wrath.**

 **Hp - 100,000**

 **Mp - 0**

 **Str - 1000**

 **Vit - 2000**

 **Dex - 80**

 **Int - 1**

 **Wis - 1**

 **Luk - 1**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth(100)**

"One hundred thousand health?!" I couldn't stop myself screaming as I flew circles around the Rock Golem. "That's fucking ridiculous!"

Sadly, screaming at it wasn't going to kill it any faster. I was just lucky that whoever made this thing probably didn't think about the possibility of someone flying around it. This golem was designed to be used against regular huntsmen level people, not someone with basically a cheat code to life. They likely thought that it would just outlast any attempts to get to wherever it was supposedly guarding when all it had to worry about were melee weapons and normal Dust projectiles. Whatever, this thing won't die on its own.

I held my hand out and began charging a **Spiral Aura Bolt** while Wisp flew me around the golem. I poured two-thirds of my Aura into this attack and shot it from my hand when it reached its maximum charge time. The ball of energy slammed into the head of the golem and exploded into a burst of blue light, the golem staggered back a little with that attack but it recovered enough to reach into the ground, pull a chunk of earth out, and throw it at me. Wisp and I weaved around the attack and I glanced at its health.

"Only three hundred damage?! Dear gods, this is going to take forever if I don't figure something else out!" I complained.

It took the better part of an hour and a half to kill the golem, most of that time was spent flying around and dodging boulders while I thought of ways to kill the thing faster. Lightning didn't seem to do much of anything to it, earth attacks actually did nothing to it thanks to its maximum affinity, and fire was the biggest help. I figured out that I could actually do more damage to the golem by superheating one part of it enough to make that area soft enough to be unable to support the weight it was holding. The superheated part of the golem would be squished or fall off and the golem would replace it by drawing from the ground beneath it.

Replacing the damage done by that drained its health, from the way I see it whatever was powering the golem was its actual health, any damage done to the body was repaired and the energy powering it lessened. Still, even with that knowledge, it had a ton of health to spare and the health lost to repairing the damaged body seemed to be extremely efficient. If it was faster or had faster minions with it then I'd rate this thing pretty high when it comes to bosses, it did have a lot of health and a good defense. But since it was all by itself it was a five out of ten, four when I figured out how to deal better damage to it.

When the last bit of the golem's health dropped to zero it seemed to stay still for a few moments. When I was about to fly down and give it a kick its legs gave out from under it, forming a pile of rock and dirt. Its arms and head followed, joining the pile under the torso. I watched as the torso itself reshaped into some sort of doorway, a wooden door with a keyhole of all things pushing to the surface from the inside and the pile of rock and dirt under it shifting into a set of stairs.

 **[Defeating this boss gives you an instant 5 levels!]**

I just stared at what was going on, so transfixed at the clear magical things going on that i didn't even acknowledge the notification beyond dismissing it. I shook my head and ignored the door, for now, landing down on the ground and briskly walking to the chest embedded into the ground. I glared at it before putting a hand to the lid and giving it an experimental push. It opened.

I peered into the chest, seeing a white glow slowly rising from the inside. A bright, white crystal floated in front of me and it looked familiar.

 **[Blood of the Life God]**

 **The crystallized blood of the god of life, older brother of the god of darkness.**

 **Rank:?**

I reached into my inventory and pulled out the other crystalized god blood. I hadn't thought I'd find its other half so soon. I took the other crystalized blood in my other hand, as soon as I held it in my hand the two crystals began glowing brighter than before, shaking with power and gravitating towards one another. Without any warning, the two crystals slammed into each other and I had to close my eyes and avert my face so that I wasn't going to be blinded by its intensity. When I looked back I saw a key floating in the air, black and white swirled together.

I had to use observe on it.

 **[The Skeleton Key]**

 **A mystical key for any and every lock.**

 **Rank: Godly**

My eyes widened in disbelief, a skeleton key that could be used for any lock was a boon for any thief. Its rank was only right, there could be nothing as godly as a key that could open anything. I snatched the key from the air greedily, this was never going to leave my person for as long as I live. My eyes turned to the doorway sitting not far from me and then moved down to the key in my hand, this had to be a sign.

Someone or something has to be looking out for me. There was no way this was a coincidence.

I wasted no time and walked up the newly formed stairs to the door, I inserted the skeleton key and turned it. With a click, the door opened with a simple push and I was greeted by the sight of a simple wooden house on top of a hill. I carefully entered the doorway expecting an attack, yet nothing seemed to attack me. I relaxed and slowly began my walk up the hill, following the dirt pathway. Everything seemed to shimmer, like if I was underwater. When I started to see the top of the hill I was able to make out more of the little house, the main part of the house seemed simple and boxy with what looked like a small shack built into one side and a brick chimney in between, it also had a small fenced off and well-maintained garden off to the other side.

When I reached the door of the house I almost knocked before realizing how silly that would've been. Nobody had likely lived here for a very long time. I turned the knob of the door, pushed it open, it wasn't locked and stepped inside. The inside of the house was small and cozy but a bit spartan, a rocking chair was in front of the window facing the garden, a small kitchen was off in a corner with a small dining table, and a soft looking chair over a rug was in front of the fireplace. What I previously thought as a small shack on the side of the house was disproven when I saw a door next to the fireplace, it was probably the bedroom.

"I think I know what this place is," I quietly said to myself.

I looked back at the small dining table and moved toward it, on the table sat a large tome and next to it sat a golden wreath crown.

 **[Spellbook of the Wizard]**

 **An ancient book filled with the magical knowledge of an ancient wizard. Attempting to learn all of its secrets would take lifetimes.**

 **Does not disappear when learning a new spell from it.**

 **Rank: Legendary**

 **[Relic of Choice]**

 **One of the four relics hidden in the huntsman schools. When brought together it is said that the relics would grant the person wielding them untold power.**

 **Rank: Godly**

I carefully picked the relic up, I had only heard of these things from Qrow's explanation but I never had the chance to see one up close. If I had to guess then the reveal of Mistral's relic would've come in season five and I managed to miss that when I came here. What comes next, however, is something I need to decide here and now.

Should I take the relic?

There are reasons I should take it. If I know my storytelling then there will come a time when the main cast has to go around and collect these things to keep Salem away from them. If I take it right here and now then there would be no way of Salem taking it because let's be serious, Salem taking this relic at the last possible moment would be something that could or would happen to create tension. If I take it and don't tell anyone and just let it collect metaphorical dust in my inventory then Salem's plans would be ruined and everyone would be able to derail everything she had built up to that point. Denying Salem her goals is a great reason.

On the other hand, I have no idea if she or Ozpin would be able to sense if a relic had been taken from its resting place. Granted, this is a bit of a stretch but I can't rule out the possibility. I could put myself in some major crosshairs by taking this thing and getting caught with it.

In the end, I decided to take it with me and shoved it into my inventory.

It didn't spit it back out so that's a good thing.

I turned to the spellbook and licked my lips, this was a serious gold mine. I flipped a few pages in the book to see what was all in it and frowned when I wasn't able to read any of the pages in the middle of the book. I flipped back to the beginning and found only a single spell that I was able to read.

" _Maybe I can only read the others if I mastered a spell before it? Or maybe when I reach a certain point somewhere?"_ I asked myself. I didn't know, but I resolved to learn this spell at least before I left this place.

 **[Do you want to learn the spell "Aura Flow"?]**

I tapped yes and the book glowed briefly before returning to normal. As its description said, the book did not disappear when I learned the skill. Just to make sure I looked where the spell I just learned was from and it was still there. I picked the book up from the table and stashed it away in my inventory, I'll have to check up on it periodically to see if I could learn something new from it.

I examined my new skill.

 **[Aura Flow Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]**

 **A spell designed to allow the user to move and react faster by pumping power into it. Your strength is not affected by this spell. Side effects may include glowing.**

 **Cost: Any/Minute**

I shuddered with pleasure as I read the skills description, I finally had a decent combat skill. With my already insane Aura regeneration right now, and not even thinking about what the future holds, I'd be able to practically flash around the battlefield. This had to be the skill Ozpin used against Cinder in the third season, only to a lesser extent since he had to be limited by something.

Nevertheless, I'd say that today has been a pretty good day so far. And it was with that thought that I came back to the warehouse whistling, carefree, happy, and a huge smile on my face. My men were looking at me like I had gone insane in the time I left and if I were them I'd be thinking that too, I'd never shown this much genuine happiness before. When I reached my little planning space and Jerry and Neo looked over at me, and even she scooted away from me with apprehension.

"Don't mind me Neo, I just had the most enthusiastic of walks in the woods," I tried to reassure her, but I don't think it worked. She just nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off of me.

I waved her off, "Oh, stop worrying. I'm not about to turn into some sort of lunatic." I calmed down a bit and looked over at Jerry, "Now, has anything new happened while I was away?"

Jerry seemed to shake himself out of whatever funk he was in and quickly walked over to me, "Actually, yes. One of the scouts looking at Brutus's buildings scattered around the city has reported something. He managed to snag a picture of what those scramblers look like when some important guy showed up before he had to book it when he was almost caught."

Jerry handed over a manila folder and I flipped it open, the device I was looking at reminded me of a Tesla tower, but significantly smaller and the tip had some sort of, likely rotating, dish. It had a bluish glow coming from the core of the device and many small wires connecting from the top to the terminal at its base.

While all of that was interesting I was focusing on the man near the terminal facing one of the men that was likely working in the device. He was a tall, tanned-skinned man with short black hair, a wicked mustache, and a gray overcoat and pants. One of Salem's lackey's, Arthur Watts.

" _Well shit, there went my good mood,"_ I bitterly thought to myself.

* * *

 **(A/N) Just can't catch a break, can he?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 61 (Next Level: 108,538/182,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,806**

 **HP Regen: 76.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 8,060.4 [4,478 + 223.9(5%) + 3,358.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 846.342/min [403.02(base 5%) + 403.02(100%) + (40.302(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 125**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	25. Chapter 25

**(A/N) Sorry that this chapter is so short. I'm sick like crazy right now and feel like shit, had to hold in the urge to puke multiple times as I wrote this over the course of the month's final week and wasn't able to get much done. But, well, I wanted to at least give you guys _something_. As an apology, I'll update this earlier than usual on Christmas instead of the end of the month.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 25**

Right now, in these hectic times of gang wars and power struggles, I'd say that I have a lot on my plate. There is much to do, places to rob, and people to steal from. In this time I also need to make sure I stay ten steps ahead of the local law enforcement and the huntsmen of Beacon. I have plans and kingpins to take down, and I need to come out on top.

But it's hard to focus on that when I now know that Salem has her eyes and plans set on this gang war.

Arthur Watts is not someone that I want to see right now. I don't know anything about this man, how strong he was, or how smart he was. He had a few appearances in the fourth volume, but since I never got around to finishing that before I came here I'm at a loss as to everything about him. So he was a complete unknown right now, basically. From what I've gathered so far he seems to be intelligent and has some connections in Atlas, enough to get some sort of experimental jammer. I'm pretty sure Neo and I could take him no problem, but I'd rather stay under Salem's radar for now.

Beating up her posse wouldn't help me as of now.

I can tell with a glance that Salem plans on building up Brutus so that he has enough influence to help their plans in the future when Cinder finally comes along. Perhaps Brutus was supposed to be their Roman Torckwick initially, but me being me I naturally stole the spotlight. I'm not sure how the original Roman managed to get up top of all of this if he even did this in the actual show, but I was confident that I'd do better.

Still, better keep a distance from those jammers until it was time to destroy them.

A week after sighting Watts for the first time it became time to make a major hit against Baron. I still had a little more than half of the minor gangs and small-time criminals on a list that I got from a previous job that still weren't hit yet. Sadly for me, the other gangs seemed to have caught on to the fact that I was going after anybody that was somehow involved with Price Baron. The last gang we hit was prepared, some of my men were actually hurt during the attack. Nothing serious, yet, but it was a wake-up call to the fact that not all of the attacks on rival gangs were going to be cake walks.

From what we've gathered, Baron has been getting more and more agitated about losing money due to my actions. So, he decided that his two top lieutenants were going to oversee his businesses themselves. These two just so happened to be huntsman level in training and combat, which means that if we take them down then Price Baron would be weakened enough to take out.

According to my sources, the names of his lieutenants were Peter Moneybanks and Jimmy Goldtooth. Those had to be pseudonyms, else I'd be very disappointed by the name choices of their parents.

Peter was going to be in charge of looking after Price's warehouses, making sure nothing was being stolen from him and everything was being shipped out quickly and quietly. A little more investigating should bring out his rotation between the warehouses, I suspect that we'll have to hit the warehouse he would be in in order to kill him. Out in the streets would be too open, and too many chances for escape.

Jimmy is in charge of visiting the minor gangs that are working with Price, making sure they are still loyal and not having any trouble. A move that seems to be in reaction to my gang and I's repeated attacks on the gangs working with Price. The problem with finding Jimmy is finding out which rival gang he would be with.

"Well, we have two targets to choose from," I said to Neo and Jerry as I leaned over the table map. Neo at first glance didn't seem to be paying attention, what with her happily bouncing in her seat. She had been rather giddy ever since our second outing together, where I'm beginning to suspect were actually minor dates in disguise. I'm completely open to such things, but I'll put romance on hold until this situation is over and done with. Other than that, I was able to spot her occasionally eyeing the map.

Jerry, as if to be the complete opposite, was being completely focused and serious on what I had to say. He leaned over the table map like I was doing, squinting at the many pins dotting it.

I pointed my finger at the street the warehouses where Peter was supposed to be keeping an eye on were located, "Price's warehouses are along this street, all easy to get to for his men for any quick response time and next to the riverside. Peter Moneybanks should be in one of these at any given part of the day, out first step against him is to find out where and when he is going to be in one of them. We already have the locations of all of Price's warehouses, so I want you, Jerry, to have some men keep an eye out at each warehouse. Make sure the men have a recent photo of him."

Jerry nodded, "Right, boss."

I pointed to the rival gang territories that were working for Baron, "Jimmy is going to be more tricky to find."

" _Unpredictable?"_ Came Neo's text question.

"Not so much unpredictable as there are more rival gangs and each is so far spread apart from one another," I replied. It was true. While there weren't that many more rival gangs than there were warehouses the fact is is that the rival gangs were spread out across the city instead of being in a single street. Finding out which gang he was with at the time would be time-consuming and slow, with the jammers still on communication is slow.

I might have, no, _need_ to do something about that jammer, all of the rival gangs were spread out inside the area one of the jammers was jamming. As it happens that is the area where my hideout was located, so that's a bonus. Convenience and coordination are good reasons to remove an obstacle.

"If we are going to go after Jimmy then we need to remove the jammer that is blocking our area," I stated. Neo and Jerry perked up at that, not surprising since I said that we should hold off on attacking Brutus's machines for now. But this was a necessary deviation from the original plan, and I'd like to be able to use my scroll again outside of being in Patch or Beacon. Remnant had funny cat videos, I like funny cat videos.

"That'd attract the attention of Brutus, boss. You sure that's wise right now?" Jerry asked.

I waved him off, "It should be fine. Might piss him off a bit, but he should be busy duking it out with Miss Nightshade over a bit of territory down south."

With that question answered the three of us spent the rest of the night planning out the smaller details for the attack on the jammer. Peter is going to be the one we are going to go after next and it would be nice if everything was taken care of when we got back. I wasn't holding my breath on that sort of convenience, but it was a nice thought anyway.

* * *

I took a drag from my cigar, eyeing the entrance of the building the jammer was located in. It was the same building the photo of Arthur Watts was taken from.

The place itself looked uninteresting and any sane man or woman would've looked in another area, what with the cracked pavement and walls surrounding the base. If I wasn't so certain that the jammer was located here I'd have overlooked it myself and I wasn't afraid to admit it. Neo stepped up next to me as our men got ready to assault the building in front of us.

"Remember to have fun, Neo," I said with a smile.

Neo smirked up at me, blinking and causing her eyes to shift colors. She gave me a thumbs up and I considered that a sign that she was ready. My men had already finished getting ready and everyone seemed to be ready to go on my signal. I looked back at my men and briefly considered giving out a spontaneous speech about giving Brutus hell over sending this city into chaos or loudly proclaiming myself above the rest of the rabble fighting for scraps. I threw that out the window the moment I came into eye contact with each of my men.

"Well, what are you goons waiting for?" I half yelled. "Let's do this!"

My gang and I got into the vans and drove straight up to the building, brazenly and without warning. The brakes of the vans were slammed down and we all quickly piled out of the back of the vehicles, I slammed my foot into the front door and it crashed open. Whatever building this used to be, it was likely used for storage or something since the jammer was large in size and barely fit inside the building.

My sudden entrance startled two of Brutus's henchmen almost a foot into the air, they dropped the cards they were playing with and reached for their guns. I didn't give them the chance, my cane was already out and pointed at them. A round of explosive Dust came out of the cane and slammed into the table the goons were sitting at, exploding and sending them flying in opposite directions. My men poured in through the entrance and began firing their weapons at anything that moved and wasn't one of them.

"Neo," said girl turned to look at me. I inclined my head to where all the action was taking place, "Go have fun. I'll deal with the boring part."

Neo grinned evilly and took off from my side, looking a bit too bright and cheerful for someone about to bust themselves with slaughter and mayhem. But, I wasn't about to let a little thing like morals get in the way of Neo and her fun, she might think I was boring or something. Shaking my head free of thoughts I strolled up to the large tower that was one of the jammers making a mess of the city's communications.

The terminal at the bottom was fancy, with all sorts of knobs and dials and screens filled with information. Amidst the gunshots, yelling, screams, and general noise of battle I could only stand there staring at the complicated piece of machinery and technology and understand that this was way over my head. Sure, I was smart, or at least I'd like to think so, but I had no idea on where to start to deactivate this thing normally.

I paused for only a minute or two before shrugging.

"Eh, in for a penny, in for a pound," I muttered to myself before whipping up my cane and pointing the barrel at the tower. I shot a round experimentally into the tower, there were no forcefields or anything like that. My round exploded against the metal of the tower and the lights flickered for a brief moment, then the tower's terminal started beeping noisily. When the beeping turned into a wailing alarm I pointed my cane at the terminal and fired a round into it, just to shut it up.

With the destruction of the lower terminal, the jammer seemed to flicker for a bit before turning off completely and going dark. There was no more glowing, so I guess that means it wasn't working anymore, which means a job well done in my book. Violence seems to be the acceptable solution to pretty much all of my problems so far, I wasn't about to complain about the methods that have worked for me so far. Just in case, I sent more rounds from my cane into the jammer to make sure it was nothing more than a pile of slag and scrap metal, no sense in giving Brutus the chance to fix the damn thing.

The fighting in the building seemed to be coming to a crawl, already I could see some of my men dumping valuables into a couple of sacks and boxes. Neo came skipping up to me, not a scratch on her but there was some blood splashed on her cheek. I didn't need to ask if it was hers, it obviously wasn't.

"Have fun?" I asked. Neo nodded and joined me in watching the pile of twisted metal smoke. I pulled out my scroll and check to see if I could use the internet again. I grinned when I saw that I could finally use it once more. With this, we should be able to find out which rival gang Jimmy is snuggling up with at the time and attack accordingly.

We just need to do it fast, restoration of communications works multiple ways and not everyone is on my side.

* * *

 **(A/N) See top author's note**.

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 61 (Next Level: 154,538/182,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 38,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,806**

 **HP Regen: 76.12/min (2%)**

 **MP: 8,060.4 [4,478 + 223.9(5%) + 3,358.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 846.342/min [403.02(base 5%) + 403.02(100%) + (40.302(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 75.6 [Base 54 + 16.2(30%) + 5.4(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 43**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 125**

 **Lien: 3,176,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	26. Chapter 26

**(A/N) Merry Christmas everyone, here's my present to you.**

 **Cover art done by** **DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 26**

 **[You have been dealt a critical hit!]**

 **[You are at critical health!]**

 **[Due to being dealt an overwhelming hit your VIT has increased by 5!]**

 **[You survived near-fatal damage, your Luck has risen by 10!]**

 **[Your health is at 50/3,806]**

These were the pop-ups that flooded my nearly blackened vision as I slowly flew through the air, glass shards, dust, and bricks from the warehouse walls spinning past my flailing body. The heat of the burning building was slowly roasting my already burnt clothes and I think my hat was blown away or destroyed. I didn't have much time, if I didn't do something soon the fall damage might just kill me.

But before we get into that, I should start from the beginning and tell you how I got myself into this mess…

* * *

The day after the strike on the scrambling tower came with some very interesting news. One of my spies reported back that the warehouse one of Price's hunters way busy looking over was going through some massive shift in inventory. Which means that something valuable was being moved beneath all of the cover inventory and that it would have some high-end protection, like, say, Huntsman level. This could be a good chance to deal two big hits to Price.

Take out one of his top lieutenants and take whatever valuables he has hidden.

"Hey, Neo," I said, looking down at my cigar as I absently rolled it between my thumb and finger. Said girl looked over at me when I called her name and tilted her head. "We've known each other for a few months now, so I can tell when you're getting restless for a fight with someone strong."

Neo puffed her cheeks and nodded with her eyes furrowed, getting way more serious than I thought she would've.

"So how about a special mission tonight?" Neo gave me a questioning look so I continued, "Price is moving something, using a large shift in his warehouse's inventory to hide it. I want whatever he is squirreling away but I'd need to get through one of his top men to do it. You in?"

Neo just grinned at me and gripped her umbrella tighter. I could feel the bloodlust coming from the diminutive woman sitting so proper like, and for a moment I couldn't help but let out a similar grin of my own.

 **[Detect bloodlust has risen by 1 level!]**

All that was left to do was create the mission, I sent one of my men off to collect Jerry. While I could still create the mission without him, he might have some useful or thought-provoking comment that could help make the mission better. But I think it's mostly because he's been hanging around the planning sessions so much he's practically a part of them now. It'd feel weird to not have him there, even if he didn't contribute anything.

Said man made his way to his usual chair right across from Neo, said woman was busy cleaning her hidden blade. I kept silent for now, only taking a few pulls from my cigar every now and then as I faced a wall away from the sight of Neo and Jerry. It made it seem like I was deep in thought when in actuality I was busy using my mission creating screen.

" _Create mission,"_ a blue screen flashed into my view.

 **Create Guild Mission**

 **[Mission Name]**

 **[Mission location]**

 **[Objectives]**

It was a very simple process to make a guild mission as I've learned. The mission name itself was entirely for flavor, I could name this one "Butt Scratcher" and it wouldn't have any effect on the rewards. No, what affects the rewards was the location and the objectives. If, say, the location was set at Beacon Academy, then the mission would jump up in difficulty whereas if the mission was at some corner store then it would be pretty low risk.

Objectives were important as well. Just by setting a location comes with a few "recommended" selections I could choose from. If I didn't want any of those or if I was looking to find or do something specific then I could use one of the drop-down options "Custom Objective". The custom objectives were pretty dynamic as well. If I was looking for a specific object that I thought was there and didn't find it, but instead found a clue to its location, then the custom objective would change itself to finding more clues or something. Naturally, there were some things that couldn't just be changed on the fly, like killing a specific person. For whatever reason the dynamic nature of the objective can't deal with those, you either pass or fail on them.

For this mission, I simply named it "Screw Price Baron Over" and added a "steal valuables" objective. I also created a custom objective "Kill Peter Moneybanks", this was the real objective, in my opinion, money came second this time. Once everything was set into place I tapped the confirm button on the bottom of the screen.

 **[Are you sure you wish to create this mission?]**

" _That's strange, I've never had anything like this pop up before…"_ I thought to myself as I tapped "yes" anyway, abandoning all logic and reason. I turned around and took a seat at the table, the mission was set and done.

"We have been given a golden opportunity," I started, tapping my cigar over the ashtray. "We have been slowly taking out nearby competitors that have aligned with our enemies and crippled Price's distribution enough to force him to start moving something quickly and loudly. I don't know what it is but if it warrants such a huge movement of manpower then it's likely expensive. Plus, it will have to have a strong guard to protect everything."

"Peter Monkeybanks," Jerry supplied.

I pointed a finger at Jerry, "Bingo. And we have to attack soon before they can gather their wits together and bunker down too tightly. Which is why I want to strike at them tonight, catch them flatfooted."

"Are you sure that's wise, boss? It could be a trap," Neo nodded along with Jerry.

"It could be," I nodded along with them, "But if we don't attack then it could also be a missed opportunity. No risk no reward."

Jerry nodded his head and Neo shrugged, I suspect she just cared about fighting Peter. I leaned over the table, "Alright so here's the plan, I want vehicles on standby a block away…"

* * *

I stood in the shadows of an alleyway, staring out at the warehouse we were supposed to hit. There were fewer guards than I had thought there to be and they were mostly patrolling around the perimeter, I bit my lip as I chewed that thought over. Perhaps this was a trap but there's no going back now. I need to find Peter inside the warehouse.

I gave the patrollers one last look before picking up my scroll.

" _You in position_?" I texted Neo. She just sent me an ice cream cone, a smiley face, a thumbs up, and a heart. I guess that's a yes then. I tucked my scroll into my inventory and dashed out of the alley with my cane at the ready and my hand on my hat.

I leaped over the fence surrounding the compound, surprising a guard that yelped in fear. He wasn't able to get much more out as I slammed my cane into his stomach. He wasn't strong compared to me so his aura shattered and he was immediately winded, passing out from the strength of the attack. I tucked his body away behind some crates and went straight for the warehouse itself.

I was forced to hide behind barrels and crates as I made my way over to an open window, one of the few times I've had to actually use my **Stealth** skill. I stole a quick look around before I pushed the window aside just enough to squeeze my way through it. I landed on a crouched position and waited for my eyes to adjust to the lighting around the inside of the warehouse. I wasn't able to see anything super specific

I slowly crept my way through the sea of boxes, barrels, and crates. I stopped in the middle of a circle of crates, eyeing them warily. I should go through them if I had the time.

 **[You sense danger!]**

I dodged out of the way of an exceptionally large two-handed sword, I'm talking it's as long as he was and nearly as wide. The concrete floor of the warehouse shattering from the blow. The lights flickered on and I heard chuckling. I finally had a good look at my attacker, he was a tall middle-aged fellow sporting black dress shoes, gray dress pants, a white dress shirt, red bowtie, black jacket, and a top hat. He looked exactly like the monopoly man from the board game only his cane was replaced with a giant sword.

I didn't have to look up at his name to know who this had to be, "Peter Moneybanks, I presume?"

His mustache twitched up, he was smiling, "You are correct, I am indeed Peter Moneybanks."

Peter lifted his sword and rested it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing and remained silent like he was expecting someone else to say something first, as I followed the movement of his weapon I saw a few TVs start to static and come to life. Then they flickered once more and revealed a man sitting in a fancy chair behind a desk. He wore nothing too fancy, just a simple suit, and that made him seem more impressive. He was younger than the huntsman in front of me, but not by much, and for all that's been going on lately, he showed no sign of distress or anger. Suspiciously so. He just had his hands folded neatly together in front of him, he may be holding back or under the influence of a semblance of some kind.

"Roman Torchwick," came the smooth voice out of the TV screen.

"Price Baron," I replied.

I really hope this wasn't going to be this kind of back and forth. I'd really like to get this over with now.

"You have been causing a lot of frustration and money for me lately. I really don't like losing money on what should be easy profit," Price remarks his hands tightening the only indication of emotion of his otherwise expressionless body language.

I grinned up at the shot of Price, I could see the camera pointed straight at me, he was recording this to look over later, I presume. "Well, what can I say? I'm a rascal." I wasn't even going to pretend to deny it.

"That you are," there was no inflection or emotion of any kind present in his voice. "But there is hope for you, you've proven to be above the petty thieves in this city. I'd like to set aside this conflict between us and join forces. We'd be unstoppable against the other families, you have shown your resourcefulness and combat prowess already after all."

Really? The "join forces with me" cliche? And I readily voiced that opinion out loud, "Really? You're going with the whole 'Join me' thing? That's a little cliche, don't you think?"

Price seemed to sigh like he knew that was going to be my answer, "Considering you are alone against Peter here I'd have thought you would see reason. But I suppose I was a bit naive to think you would be able to think that far ahead. If you weren't willing to go against me so brazenly then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Nah, we wouldn't. I don't really like working under others," I started walking around the edge of the little circle of boxes, keeping an eye on Peter.

"You won't have to worry about working for anything soon enough, Roman. You have been a righteous pain my ass and nothing would please me more than to have your head mounted over my fireplace."

"Sounds like a threat," I said. The circling around didn't give me anything to work with, this area did not have much in the way of obstacles. "I hope you don't expect me to beg for my life?"

"No, Torchwick, I expect you to die."

" _What are you, a Bond villain?"_ I couldn't help the sarcastic thought.

Peter readied his weapon and I twirled my cane in nervous anticipation, my opponent was fairly high leveled sitting at an easy ninety-eight. No attack came as I watched my opponent carefully, movement from the screen caught my eye and I glanced over briefly. Price was holding a hand-held remote controller with two buttons, my eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before I had an epiphany.

"Oh, shit," I muttered as I watched Price press the first button down. A shield erupted from the floor of the warehouse, covering Peter in the protective field. Not hesitating for a moment, Price pushed the second button just as the force field was finished. I heard the click before the flames and the resulting explosion rocked the inside of the warehouse. I felt the heat and an overpowering force wash over my body. If it wasn't for my quick thinking by placing **Aura Shields** around my body I might've just died from the explosion. Instead, I felt myself being picked up and unwillingly riding the explosion out of a nearby window with my Aura shattered and my health at a low I've never been at before. Even Adam didn't reduce my health down to just fifty.

 **[You have been dealt a critical hit!]**

 **[You are at critical health!]**

 **[Due to being dealt an overwhelming hit your VIT has increased by 5!]**

 **[You survived near-fatal damage, your Luck has risen by 10!]**

 **[Your health is at 50/3,806]**

These were the pop-ups that flooded my nearly blackened vision as I slowly flew through the air, glass shards, dust, and bricks from the warehouse walls spinning past my flailing body. The heat of the burning building was slowly roasting my already burnt clothes and I think my hat was blown away or destroyed. I didn't have much time, if I didn't do something soon the fall damage might just kill me.

I quickly reached into my inventory and yanked out a large Aura Save Stone, one of the larger ones I am able to create now. They restore a hundred and fifty instead of twenty. I shattered it in my grip and used some of my newly restored Aura to bring myself back up to full strength with **Aura Mend**. I got another pop-up.

 **[You have received a message from "Neo" on your scroll.]**

"Sorry, Neo," I muttered. "Can't stop to chat."

The warehouse was burning in front of my eyes, smaller explosions were continuing to go off every now and then. Either Price had a lot more explosives packed into the warehouse or various Dust crystals were going off due to the heat. The fire was quickly spreading around the warehouse compound, there were a lot of flammable objects just laying about. I was beginning to suspect this was all planned, please note the sarcasm.

This was sure to attract the attention of the police and every single huntsman in the city.

Out of the flames and smoke of the warehouse, Peter came flying down at me like a meteor. I leaped back just in time, returning fire from Melodic Cudgel. With speed that did not seem possible with such a massive sword, Peter deflected the projectiles away from him, sending them exploding into some burning crates and barrels. Peter charged me once again and this time I was forced to desperately weave around his wide, sweeping arcs.

" _Bind!_ " I mentally shouted. A coil of Aura rope wrapped around my surprised opponent and he struggled for a few brief moments before the ropes holding him were ripped apart. His strength must be far larger than I had initially thought. I brought out Rumble, invisibly of course, and used his power over the earth to form a large fist of concrete that shot out of the ground and slammed into Peter while he was just finishing recovering. The man went sailing backward and slammed back first into a shipping container, denting the metal.

I didn't let up, chunk of rock after chunk of rock fly at Peter until a cloud of dust began to form. I heard a shout of rage from within the cloud and Peter flew out of it, sprinting across the ground while weaving around the chunks of rock I was still sending after him. I ducked under a swing of his sword but was forced to block the follow-up kick he sent my way. Blocking doesn't reduce all of the damage taken like dodging does, so I still took a hefty six hundred damage to my Aura as well as being sent flying back.

My back hit the ground but I was able to right myself in the air and land on my feet, sliding back on the concrete. I looked up to find that my annoying opponent had already begun another attack and I wasn't going to be able to dodge or properly block it.

Luck seemed to be on my side for once as I found that I didn't have to. I felt the world around me shatter for a brief moment and suddenly I was ten feet behind Peter watching an image of myself being shattered. I knew that this was the work of Neo and if we weren't in the middle of a fight I'd have kissed her. Peter looked confused before Neo appeared out of thin air and spin kicked him in the head.

I didn't bother waiting for him to get back up and began firing my cane almost immediately. Most of my shots went a bit wide and only a few had direct hits, but they did damage and that was the point. As I was firing I spotted a few Dust boxes that hadn't been caught on fire just yet, being too far away from the nearest source. I grinned to myself, a good chance and I just needed to get him to come this way.

I glanced over at Neo and jerked my head over at the boxes, she seemed to understand quickly enough and charged Peter. I should up her reward for this, she was the one who had to distract him and take some minor burns for it after all. I watched and took careful potshots every now and then, Neo was a whirlwind of dexterous dodging, kicking, and graceful flipping, easily keeping up with Peter in one on one combat.

He wasn't stupid though and realized that Neo was being a distraction, after a particularly hard hit to the nose from one of Neo's boots he decided that enough was enough. His sword morphed and the blade itself split into two with a clear section right down the middle. Electricity sparked from the empty center of the blade and Peter swung himself into a literal whirlwind. A large dome of electricity shot out from him and slammed into Neo who was sent flying back.

"Neo!" I shouted, I was worried about that attack as it seemed powerful and my danger sense went off as he was spinning aroubd, I rushed into her flight path. I caught her without much effort and gave her a look over, she wasn't hurt very bad aside from a couple of electrical burns from some of the attack that managed to get through her Aura and knock her unconscious, and sadly her Aura was low as well but I can fix that later. Seems like only my Aura fully protects me from attacks until it shattered and the attack's damage goes over that threshold.

Peter came to a stop and his sword swished to the side. I glared at the man, ready to set Neo down somewhere safe and kill the bastard. The sound of sirens nearby made me hold my rage back, Peter himself seemed to tsk in annoyance. It seemed that he wanted to continue fighting as well, orders from above to make sure I was dead, most likely.

"I guess you and your little girlfriend are lucky this time," Peter stated as he transformed his sword back to its original shape and sheathed it on his back. "Don't mess with the Baron Gang, else you'll pay the price."

With that, he sprang out of the burning warehouse compound to find somewhere to lay low. I pulled Neo into my arms and left the same way just as the police started rushing into the compound, I had to ignore the news helicopters(TV seemed to remain unaffected) and make sure to stay out of sight. But I made sure to burn Peter's face into my memory, as well as Price Baron's. I might've failed to kill Peter this time, but the next will end with him being _slowly_ killed.

And I'll enjoy every second of it.

* * *

 **(A/N) And that's a wrap for this chapter. Stick around for the omake at the bottom!**

 **Oh, and once again have a very Merry Christmas!**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 61 (Next Level: 108,538/182,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,876**

 **HP Regen: 77.52/min (2%)**

 **MP: 8,060.4 [4,478 + 223.9(5%) + 3,358.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 846.342/min [403.02(base 5%) + 403.02(100%) + (40.302(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 82.6 [Base 59 + 17.7(30%) + 5.9(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 125**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**

 **Omake:**

A spoon dipped into a large bowl of Sugar Lumps cereal and shoved a generous helping to the waiting mouth of a young Ruby Rose. She hummed to herself in cheery bliss as the sugar coursed through her veins with every bite, playfully kicking her pajama-clad legs while her puppy Zwei ran around barking. The TV set to a news station that she didn't really care to watch, but it was her dad's turn to have the TV this morning so she bore with it.

Even if she really wanted to watch cartoons…

"Ruby, Zwei's been running around like crazy, did you let him out yet?" Yang asked as she finally came into the kitchen. She spent nearly an entire hour washing her hair, way too long if you asked Ruby.

"Nope! Uh, could you let him out for me, I'm kiiiiinda eating right now," with a roll of her eyes Yang pulled the back door open and Zwei ran outside barking.

" **In other news, a large fire broke out in the commercial district last night,"** A news anchor stated. " **From the police reports, it's likely a result of a gang war between the underground criminals in Vale. We don't know both parties involved in the fight, but there is a strong possibility of one of the bigger crime bosses being involved. The other party is a small gang leader by the name of Roman Torchwick. Here is the most recent picture of him now."**

It was at this point that Ruby decided to look over at the television, interested by the story being told. Her spoon dropped into her bowl when she finally got a good look at the mugshot of Roman. She shakily pointed a finger at the TV, "Ah! It's the cookie wizard!"

Taiyang looked over at his daughter confused, "Cookie wizard?"

Yang groaned and facepalmed, "Oh, no…"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, when I was lost that one time in the mall I met him and he helped me look for you two! He even made cookies appear out of thin air, he tried to distract me with silly movements but I've learned a thing or two from videos online!" She proudly straightened up at that then pointed a finger at her sister, "Oh, and you owe him a hundred Lien!"

Yang looked at her sister, confused, "Huh?"

"You said you'd give him a hundred Lien if he got famous."

"But he's not famous! He's infamous!" Yang tried to counter.

Ruby snorted and waved her hand as she laughed at her sister, "Haha, silly Yang. If you're on TV you're famous! That's how it works!"

"Wait, what?" Taiyang asked, not knowing what was going on as his two daughters bickered over what was considered being famous.


	27. Chapter 27

**(A/N) Hello everyone, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Cover art by DownSmashJon**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 27**

When I returned back to my hideout I wasn't as entirely calm as I must've looked. I had a cold, simmering anger burning in my chest as I carried Neo through Vale. When I set her down in her bed and rested her umbrella against her nightstand I carefully made my way to my own room. Jerry didn't say anything to me as I passed him by on my way, he took one look at my face and grimaced. I might've been making a face, my calm exterior was cracking just a bit.

I clicked my door shut and locked it, scanning my room. It wasn't quite lavish, not yet at any rate, but it had a couple of nice and expensive things goings for it. A couch was against the wall on my left, a plain looking coffee table in front of it. My bed was in a far off corner with nice and fluffy sheets on top of it. My mahogany desk, because everyone needs a mahogany desk, sat not far from my bed with a couple of blank papers for looks on top of it and a comfy desk chair behind it.

"Fucking damn it!" I swore loudly and swung my fist against the mocking blue screen floating in front of me as hard as I could. There wasn't even a satisfying thump or hiss as my fist hit the screen.

 **[You have failed the Guild mission "Screw Price Baron Over".]**

I failed my first ever guild mission, Neo got hurt in the process, and I only had myself to blame for it too.

"Got too cocky," I muttered to myself as I paced across my room. " _I've had nothing but a mostly easy time ever since I got here. Got complacent, so sure of success that I just brushed off any warnings that I should have paid attention to. Didn't even take the fight as seriously as I should have despite the tough time I was having, and look at where that had gotten me."_

Aint that the truth, I was so sure of winning that confrontation with Peter that I decided deep down I'd defeat him with just the basics in my arsenal, plus Neo. Not bringing out my newest skill unless I was really desperate. Which, come to think of it, is what let him get away from this whole thing in the first place. I'd have liked to continue the fight but then I'd be worried about Neo, as unconscious as she was she'd have been a sitting duck. I should not have dragged that out as I did, letting him reveal some hidden trump card and dealing serious damage to my partner.

I need to figure out what that was before we fight next time. Was it some sort of lightning control? Barriers?

I stopped in my pacing long enough to kick my coffee table over, this time I was rewarded with a satisfying crack as the piece of furniture flew across my room broken and bounced against the wall. Just thinking about that guy pissed me off, even when I'm trying to figure out his moves in order to kill him.

"I need a change of mindset," I muttered. "I've been running around and dealing with everything like it was just a game with no consequences. Flying by the seat of my pants is not going to get me anywhere now, I need to take this seriously now."

No more playing around now, when I'm confronted with a problem I need to deal with it with all I've got.

The first thing I should do is spend the stat points I've accumulated, I've been saving them just in case I needed them. I need them now, all one hundred and twenty-five of them. I took a look at my stat sheet, trying to figure out the best place to invest my points into.

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 61 (Next Level: 108,538/182,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 3,876**

 **HP Regen: 77.52/min (2%)**

 **MP: 8,060.4 [4,478 + 223.9(5%) + 3,358.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 846.342/min [403.02(base 5%) + 403.02(100%) + (40.302(10%)]**

 **STR: 65.8 [Base 47 + 14.1(30%) + 4.7(10%)]**

 **VIT: 82.6 [Base 59 + 17.7(30%) + 5.9(10%)]**

 **DEX: 164 [Base 80 + 12(15%) + 24(30%) + 8(10%) + 40(50%)]**

 **INT: 142.8 [Base 102 + 30.6(30%) + 10.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 125**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**

I tapped my chin in thought and said, "I think I could get both dexterity and intelligence over one hundred and fifty." I inspected my other stats and decided that my base strength was still low enough to grind out points in the old fashioned way. Vitality too, I still need to increase my physical endurance more so having Rumble smack me around is a good idea for the future. I don't need more wisdom right this second so I'll increase that when I level some more and I don't want to waste stat points on luck, I'll continue to just grind that stat out when I have the time.

"So… fifty to intelligence and seventy-five to dexterity," I muttered. Once I finished allocating the points I felt a small rush and a couple of pop-ups phased into reality in front of me.

 **[By increasing Dexterity to over 100 you have gained the skill "A Hunter's Agility"!]**

 **[A Hunter's Agility - Lv Max (Passive)]**

 **The life of a hunter needs one to be flexible and quick on their feet. Years of honing one's body have given this hunter increased movement speed and the ability to bend one's body in ways they haven't been able to before.**

 **Movement speed permanently increased by 50%.**

 **Your body has vastly increased flexibility.**

 **[By increasing Dexterity to over 150 you have gained the skill "Supreme Reflexes"!]**

 **[Supreme Reflexes - Lv Max (Passive)]**

 **Reacting to threats on the battlefield is important for any warrior. But you have taken it farther than the others. The speed of an attack is of no consequence for you anymore, just make sure your body is fast enough to keep up.**

 **Reaction time exponentially increased.**

 **[By increasing Intelligence to over 150 you have gained the skill "Genius"!]**

 **[Genius - Lv Max (Passive)]**

 **Your intellect is vast and your peers are jealous, yet they come to you to solve their problems. Problem-solving comes as naturally to you as breathing, could this be the start of your never-ending thirst for a challenge worthy of your mind?**

 **Grants the ability to think extremely quick.**

 **Grants an eidetic memory.**

I was a little bummed out that I wasn't getting any direct increases to my Aura or Aura attacks, or a reduction in costs, but I was happy with these skills nonetheless. I could already feel the difference with the **Genius** skill, my mind racing at speeds I didn't even know was possible. It might not be a direct combat skill, but it was going to be damn useful.

I took a knife out of my inventory and glanced down at it in my hands contemplatively as I bounced my hand up and down. I tossed it into the air experimentally and watched as it slowly sailed upwards. I realized that this must be my reaction time. I reached up to grab it at the apex of its arc and frowned at how sluggish my movement was compared to my reaction speed. I'll need to increase the speed of my limbs or use **Aura Flow** to compensate.

I felt Neo's presence in the direction of my door, I had known she was there for a while as I noticed her moving out of her room but hadn't said anything to her yet. I sighed and called out, "Come in Neo, I know you already picked the lock."

The door to my room opened and Neo stepped through the doorway, she looked over at my broken coffee table against the wall and rose an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged, "I had some anger problems to work through and I needed a better coffee table anyway."

She pointed at herself.

"No, not at you. At me," I said. She tilted her head questioningly, frowning. "I should have seen that that whole thing was a setup, instead I blundered through arrogantly and got you hurt. Without anything to show for it too."

I turned away from Neo and glared at nothing in particular, I really was feeling bad about this whole mission. Even with my newfound sense of betterment the sting of failure still lingered. Suddenly I felt arms wrap around my waist, I looked down at Neo with wide eyes. She glared up at me fiercely, as if daring me to tell her to let go. I chuckled and gave her a hug back, it was a little awkward thanks to our difference in size but a hug was a hug.

Eventually, Neo let go and we stared at each other.

"Let's not let anyone see us do that," I said, Neo nodding fervently in agreement. "You can have the rest of the day off, Neo. We probably won't do anything until we find out where Jimmy is."

She pointed at me and tilted her head, "Me? I'm going to do a bit of soul searching, destress myself. I'll be back later."

Neo didn't look like she got it but she shrugged anyway and sauntered off to do whatever she did with her free time. Me, well, I decided to go back into the forest and practice with my new reflexes on some unsuspecting Grimm.

* * *

My cane swung down in an orange blur, caving the Ursa's head in and sending the last bit of its health down to zero. This Ursa was just my latest victim in my need to vent and prepare for the future. I've found **Aura Flow** to be a dangerous skill, for my enemy, in combat. When it's combined with my **Supreme Reflexes** and **Genius** skills I'm able to move, react, and think at an extremely fast pace in combat. All I need to do it master **Aura Flow** and find a way to get my Aura to regenerate when it's turned on, I do that and I'd be nearly unstoppable.

 **[Due to the constant burden you're carrying your strength has risen by 1!]**

 **[Due to your constant exercise your vitality has risen by 1!]**

 **[Aura Flow has risen by 1!]**

 **[Dust Mastery has risen by 1!]**

 **[Aura has risen by 1!]**

 **[You have gained a level!]**

I didn't sleep since I had returned from the failed mission and thought about everything in my room. Instead, after a nice yet brief hug session with Neo, I had spent the rest of the night and most of the next day running around dungeons and killing Grimm. I even had the bright idea to use gravity Dust to increase the strain of using my muscles, it was basically like the gravity training Goku and Vegeta use except it only affects me because I shoved the Dust crystals into my arms. It hurt like hell but the pain was worth it.

My strength had finally gone above the fifty threshold but like vitality, I didn't get a skill for it. The skills for them must come at level one hundred then. Vitality had hit sixty-five thanks to the constant strain and thanks to me using gravity Dust my Dust Mastery had risen in levels rapidly. **Dust Mastery** is at fifty-two now and thanks to that I got a new title **Dust Adept**.

 **[Dust Adept - Tier 2 Title]**

 **You have gained valuable experience in your quest to master Dust usage, remember that practice makes perfect.**

 **All Dust consuming skills have a 25% chance to save your Dust.**

 **All Dust related damage increases by 50%.**

 **You take 25% less damage from Dust and Dust related items.**

Aura Flow has risen nicely as well but it began slowing down in levels once it hit level fifteen, I'd just barely managed to have it hit seventeen and I have used it for hours at this point. I haven't gotten any extra effects on the skill yet, but I'll continue to master it anyway, it's a useful skill. Aura, on the other hand, managed to level up five times in this Grimm murder session and is now sitting at eighty-five. I was happy about that one and decided to make hunting Grimm a hobby of mine.

I only gained a single personal level in all of my killing, sadly, but then the Grimm didn't give me much experience anymore. It might be because I'm higher level than they are, or my ability is screwing with me, but I think it's because I'm not looking for difficult dungeons to defeat right now. At any rate, I have become used to fighting with my new skills. I think it might be time to do some real damage.

I heard a phone buzz in my ear and a blue screen flickered to life.

 **[You have 1 new message!]**

I pulled my scroll out of my inventory and looked at my newest message.

" _Jerry says he knows where Jimmy Goldtooth is,"_ was the brief text I got from Neo. Another buzz came from my scroll, " _Also, we need to do it tonight. Price might be recalling him soon."_

I sent her a message that I was on my way back, I want something to go right for once.

* * *

I'll admit that I was a bit nervous this time around, my previous failure wasn't that long ago and already we were going after another one of Price's top men. Gamer's Mind didn't let me go into a mental breakdown, however, so I was able to keep a hold of myself despite everything. Honestly, I shouldn't be nervous in the first place, it sets a bad example for my men and I need to look like nothing should ever bother me.

Neo sat across from me, legs crossed and eyeing something on her scroll. She made it abundantly clear that she wasn't going to leave my side unless there was some sort of emergency. I appreciated the thought, but I could look after myself.

I didn't tell her that, of course, she'd smack me upside the head and point out the fact that I was exploded out of a building the last time we weren't together. She was right, naturally, but that didn't mean I had to like it.

The van we were riding in came to a squeaky stop and we all piled out of the vehicle. More of my men were coming out the back of similar vehicles and soon enough my small gang of well-dressed men were standing outside an empty looking building. It had a nice view of the river that ran through Vale, but that was its only upside as the rest of it was a dump. If it wasn't for the fact that I could see movement going on through windows I'd have thought we were dealing with nothing special.

We stormed the building, kicking doors down and firing at any of these small-time crooks that we saw. Most threw down their weapons and cowered behind cover, they were quickly round up when the firefight in that part of the building finished and tied with zip ties. We went floor by floor doing this until we finally reached the top floor, I had a feeling that the boss fight was going to be on the top floor. This world liked it cliches apparently.

They met us in a large, open room on the top floor. There was no cover or furniture of any kind, just a couple of scattered boxes and crates and various pieces of litter. The man on the left, facing me, carried himself with a sense of serious confidence. Like he was not fazed by anything that was thrown at him. Mid-thirties, clean shaven, short black hair, and a clean suit, the boss of this small-time gang looked rather plain. But he was also level fifty so he had to have combat experience under his belt.

As if to contrast his friend's appearance the man next to him has wild, unkempt hair, a scraggly beard, probably in his forties, and his fashion sense can be described as being non-existent, he looked like a cowboy that had paint thrown at him. Nothing he wore matched and when he smiled I only saw a couple of teeth here and there, his gleaming golden tooth the only thing that let people know who he was.

Neo's nose crinkled in disgust as she had a good look at the man that was our opponent.

"Roman Torchwick," our unwitting host said as he adjusted his tie. "I'd say that it was a surprise that you have visited me at such an hour, but considering your track record so far that would be a waste of emotion."

I smirked at him, "Yeah, probably. Now, how about we just cut straight to the point where you'll both give in to me so we can get this all over with."

Jimmy Goldtooth cackled, "Sorry, can't do that boyo, boss man wants your head either dead or alive in front of him. He's been raging ever since you put a thorn into his side, keeping him from getting involved in Brutus and Miss Nightshade's little scuffle. He wants those two gone or weakened you know."

I shrugged, "Don't we all?"

Jimmy smirked, "Yes we do, sonny. Now pick yourself a partner and let's get this shindig on the move!"

Neo and I sprung into action, **Aura Flow** wrapped itself around me and I felt the burst of speed. The no name gang boss in front of me widened his eyes in surprise, no doubt shocked at my speed. I swept my cane in an arc, my opponent barely blocking the strike with his staff. I attributed that to mostly luck on his part as I had already turned my weapon back around at his other side.

My cane slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of his body and picking him up off the ground for just a second. He went sailing back and crushed an empty cardboard box under his weight. I didn't give him any time to recover, I kept the blows raining down hard on the man and I watched, fascinated, as his Aura and health dropped down in clumps at a time. My strength was over one hundred when I included **Power of Aura** so my damage output was pretty good thanks to my new speed. The poor bastard didn't stand a chance against me and was out cold after a solid minute of raining blows on his head, Aura was a wonderful thing even in the hands of the untrained.

Now that my opponent was swiftly dealt with I turned around and spotted Neo in a furious duel with Jimmy. She was dodging and jumping around the room, trying to not get hit by the blasters on Jimmy's gauntlets. She didn't look like she had been hit yet and Jimmy was sporting a few scuffs and an angry scowl. Must have figured out Neo was no joke despite her fun sized packaging. I charged the man myself this time, trying to get behind him. He was wise to my moves and made sure to keep a blaster trained on me as well. I traded shots with Jimmy, making sure to try and hit his face so that Neo can pop in and kick him in the jaw.

I finally found an opening and ducked into melee range with Jimmy, using my superior agility to weave around his attacks. He managed a few hits and a couple of close scrapes with those blasters of his despite my new skills, but that was a hunter for you. They were skilled people when it came to combat and their personal and specialized weapons.

I landed a solid smack of my cane on his face causing something to fall out of his mouth. The battle had a brief pause as we all stared at the small golden tooth falling out of his mouth and clacking against the ground.

The brief moment of shock was gone as quickly as it came, Jimmy was furious and ignored Neo in order to focus on trying to kill me.

"How dare you knock out my precious tooth! That tooth has been in my family for generations!" Jimmy screamed at me. I couldn't help but feel nauseated at the fact that his tooth has been exchanged between his family members for generations. Thanks to his little temper tantrum Neo had her shot at smacking Jimmy in the face, her knee impacted Jimmy's jaw and my enhanced reflexes managed to catch everything in front of me. Spittle flew out of his mouth as the force of Neo's knee carried her and Jimmy down until he was finally slammed into the floor of the building, knocked out.

Neo unsheathed her blade and looked over at me. I ran a thumb across my neck, and Neo's only response was to bury her blade into his chest. I did the same thing to the boss of the men here, he didn't have anything that I wanted and my men were already scouring the building for valuables.

 **[You have defeated the hunter Jimmy Goldtooth!]**

 **[You have gained a level!]**

One down, just Peter and Price left…

* * *

 **(AN) Couldn't kill one so just kill the other right?**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 63 (Next Level: 4,523/194,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 4,060**

 **HP Regen: 81.2/min (2%)**

 **MP: 9,500.4 [5,278 + 263.9(5%) + 3,958.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 997.542/min [475.02(base 5%) + 475.02(100%) + (47.502(10%)]**

 **STR: 81.2 [Base 58 + 17.4(30%) + 5.8(10%)]**

 **VIT: 91 [Base 65 + 19.5(30%) + 6.5(10%)]**

 **DEX: 317.75 [Base 155 + 23.25(15%) + 46.5(30%) + 15.5(10%) + 77.5(50%)]**

 **INT: 212.8 [Base 152 + 45.6(30%) + 15.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	28. Chapter 28

**(A/N) Cover art by DownSmashJon**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 28**

It was raining in Vale right now.

I think it was rather fitting, and not because someone died recently. No, I feel like it helped add to the atmosphere of what was about to happen right now. As if on cue and reading my thoughts, thunder exploded in the skies above the city, shaking the dirty and broken windows of the abandoned cookie factory I was waiting in. I was leaning against a wall and looking out a nearby window, one of the few still intact, and kept an eye on the road.

It was also kind of chilly in Vale right now, I was happy for my jacket.

My scroll vibrated and I glanced down briefly at the text message, " _Any sign of this damn contact of yours already, it's too fucking wet and cold for this shit._ "

I smirked, Neo gets surprisingly foul-mouthed when she's really irritated. She also doesn't understand that the atmosphere is important for these kinds of things. Cold and rainy, quiet, an abandoned building of some kind. Sure, I'd prefer a place that wasn't an old cookie factory with a giant adorable mascot, but there were only so many abandoned factories in Vale and the others were taken over by some gang.

I suppose it's not too bad, in a certain light that adorable mascot could look pretty damn creepy and there were plenty of empty crates and boxes just lying about.

" _Give it some time, she's probably in some sort of dilemma over this,_ " I quickly typed back. I was contemplating lighting a cigar but decided not to, the light might be seen and I want to stay hidden for now. I'll save it for the talk.

My scroll vibrated, " _She?_ "

 **[Sense Bloodlust has risen by one level!]**

"Don't level up at weird times…" I quietly grumbled under my breath.

" _Just a friend that disagrees with my life choices, nothing more. Now stay hidden, I think I see something,_ " I quickly typed back, slowing stepping away from the window. I could see a person jumping over the gate of the factory, covered in a dark blue raincoat. From my more hidden position, I saw her cautiously inch forward, scanning her immediate surroundings. I couldn't see her anymore when she reached the front entrance, I decided to get into a better position to allow my voice to carry across the factory.

The squeak of the entrance announced my guest and I heard metallic clicks, probably her pistol.

"I'm here, Torchwick, why did you ask me here?" Jeanette's voice rang loud and clear, irritated, I can almost picture her sweeping her gun around as she said that. I didn't say anything yet, I wanted to milk this.

"Answer me damn it, I know you're there!"

I hid behind some crates, I had a direct view of Jeanette slowly moving around the ground floor of the factory. I know Neo was silently watching our guest, ready to knock her out just in case. I felt like that wasn't needed, but Neo was being protective and had my own safety in mind so I can't say I disagree with the sentiment.

"I'm glad you came here alone as I asked but you don't have to sound so irritated, you didn't like the roses and love note I sent you?" I couldn't help but prod the beast.

"I don't like the fact that you know where I live, broke into my apartment, and made yourself coffee with my good beans!" From where I was hidden I could see her grit her teeth in frustration as she shouted that out. "The only reason I came here at all is that you said you'd do something bad to my little brother if I didn't! Otherwise, there would be an army of police officers waiting for you!"

She was glowering at the darkness around her as if her gaze alone would let her see where I was. My little bit of persuasion really made her hate me even more. I kept walking around the edge of the factory, keeping the little firecracker in sight.

"Well, to be honest, that threat was a lie. I have no idea where any of your family members are. I just needed you here so we can have a bit of an important chat," I freely admitted and her eye twitching made it clear she was not happy. "I've been thinking about turning over a new leaf, going into police work."

Jeanette scoffed and turned around to point her gun in the direction she thought I was in and started advancing. Not far off, she has pretty good hearing. "With the crimes you've done, you think I'd buy that?"

I suppose that's fair, I've done my fair share of crimes since I got here a little over five months ago. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

"It's true! Why I've already done my own detective work and found out where you can finally rid this city of the jamming that's been plaguing it. I know that the police haven't actually gotten anywhere with that little mystery despite their claims that they managed to partially remove it in a certain area," I grinned when she stiffened and bit her lip, hoping that she'll bite.

After a few moments of indecision, Jeanette sighed, "What do you want, Torchwick?"

"First, let's put down the weapon and talk like civilized people instead of shouting across a factory," I said, finally stopping this charade. I had my fun.

For a moment I thought Jeanette would refuse, her nose scrunched up at the very thought of not having a weapon in hand when around me. But the want of getting rid of the city-wide jamming was too appealing, even with her sense of justice fighting with the thought of working with a criminal. Jeanette holstered her gun and crossed her arms with a grimace.

Taking this as my cue I stepped around an old forklift, a cigar already in my mouth and my lighter moving up to the end. I stopped a couple of feet away from the policewoman, the only thing separating us was an old crate. I took a few drags from my cigar and blew smoke out before offering the unlit end to Jeanette, "Cigar?"

Her nose wrinkled, "No, I don't smoke."

I nodded and stuffed it back in my mouth, "I suppose not, this stuff isn't for children."

She scowled and her crossed arms tightened in repressed anger, "Are you here to tell me where the jammers are or are you just going to try and piss me off all night?"

"I don't think I really need to _try_ …"

Jeanette growled and I held my hands up in the air in mock surrender.

"Fine, be a killjoy then." I reached a hand into my jacket, Jeanette immediately on guard, and pulled out a manila folder. I set the folder down on the crate and Jeanette reached down to take it. I quickly pinned the folder down with one hand before she could take it, wagging a finger at her with my other, "Ah ah ah! We still need to talk about what you'd be exchanging for this information, fair trade and all."

Jeanette glared at me briefly as she retracted her hand, "Yeah, turning over a new leaf he says."

I shrugged, "Never said I'd be a good person."

"Whatever, what do you want, Torchwick?"

I grinned around my cigar, "Well, I've heard some rumors that a warehouse owned by someone important along the river has a huge amount of illicit drugs just waiting to be seized. And, like the good Samaritan I am, I would like to help Vale's wonderful police force acquire it."

Jeanette narrowed her eyes, "And how, pray tell, would I manage to mobilize the police into doing that? Also, last I checked, most of Vale is still being jammed so calling for backup is kind of hard."

I shrugged, "I'm sure you could figure something out, probable cause and all that. And don't try and fool me, we both know the police radio still has functionality. The only reason you have been having trouble with the crime right now is that the average person only has a scroll and those are all jammed, so no people reporting crimes."

Jeanette stayed silent, glaring at me as she ran through the benefits in her head, finally, after what felt like an eternity, she grunted.

"Fine, I don't know how this benefits you, for now, but I'll do it," she looked like she was sucking on a lemon as she got those words out of her mouth. She reached down for the folder and this time I didn't stop her. She opened it and eyed the pictures of the jammer I had taken after I destroyed it not long ago. She turned a page and read the paper that had the address of one location a jammer was in.

"There is only one address here, Torchwick," Jeanette glanced up from the folder, snarling at me.

I nodded, "Of course, one favor, one address. I took the liberty of destroying one jammer for you, leaving us with only three left. Three jammers, three favors, with this deal done only two are left not counting the one somewhere in Brutus's territory. Fair for both of us, wouldn't you say?"

Jeanette tsked and slapped the folder shut, not happy but not willing to let this chance go, "Fine. But this information better be correct, or else the deal is off."

I shrugged without care and reached into my jacket once again, pulling out a strip of paper and another picture, "Be at the warehouse address listed on this strip of paper at the time listed, I'm sure you'll find your probable cause then." I handed over the strip of paper and picture, "Also, take this picture. I believe the man in it is the one who gave Brutus the jammers, my man that took it read the lips of the people around him and said his name might be Arthur."

"Not going to charge me for this too?" Jeanette snarked as she snatched the paper and picture out of my hand.

"Nah, think of this as a freebie. Like one of those samples at the supermarket," I grinned. Then I leaned in and winked, "You know, we could make a great team. How about you join my group when this is all over?"

She took a swipe at me that I managed to duck under, "Not on my life. I'm going to go now, if I spend any more time in your presence and cigar I'll feel sick." With that she turned around, stuffed everything I gave her under her raincoat, and left the factory. Well, can't charm them all I guess.

 **[You have detected bloodlust!]**

I winced, I forgot that Neo was here. I put on a smile and turned around to see my partner standing behind me, arms crossed, and a scowl on her face. I held up a placating hand, "Now Neo, I was only teasing her. I knew she'd never accept the offer and you're irreplaceable!"

Neo scowled up at me, then turned her head away from me with a huff and stormed off. I ran after her, trying my best to get back on her good side. It was times like this that I was glad she had a huge sweet tooth and my inventory is filled with treats, I'll just have to bribe my way back to the top of her good graces.

* * *

The next day I found myself catching my breath and drinking a generous amount of water out in the forest.

"You know," I started, "When you said you wanted to take your frustrations out on me with physical activity, I was hoping for something other than sparring."

Neo was lying down against a tree next to me with a bottle of water in her hands, she grinned mischievously at me and stuck her tongue out. I snorted at her childish behavior but didn't say anything else. I wasn't against sparring with Neo, it actually helps a lot with my fighting. I don't use any skills on her, that'd defeat the purpose to me. Neo is a great way for me to develop good combat experience and work on my skill at fighting in general, she's quick and hard to hit with an agility that almost matches mine.

I like to think that I'm helping her out the same way she is helping me out. She looked at me in wonder during our spar today, she clearly noticed the massive difference between the me now and the me from before. I should start assigning my points more often, making such a massive leap in improvement is suspicious. But the shock of my improvement wasn't enough to totally overwhelm her, she put up a good fight and managed to knock me on my back. Not that I made it easy for her.

Neo is really gifted at fighting, I even watched as her level increased by one point while we were sparring.

Right now there has been a lull in the citywide gang war, seems that everyone is preparing for one thing or another at the same time. It makes a lot of criminals nervous, they are a jumpy lot at the best of times and this whole thing is a powder keg just waiting to be set off. I think that it would work best if we set it off on our schedule, hence why I gave Jeanette that time and place.

A police raid on one of the top criminals in the underworld is bound to cause some big waves when it happens. Neo already has her orders to silently keep watch during the whole thing, to make sure that nobody tries to hide the evidence before it was found. Her semblance is really useful for things like this.

I can already see Price panicking when he realizes that he might have some real, hardcore evidence against him with the police. That also means that I'm only going to have a short window of time to finish him off once and for all. He'll absolutely hole himself up in his big top floor apartment, trying to gather everything he can salvage before he skips out of town. Peter is likely his personal bodyguard at that point, which is perfect because we will know where he will be.

Then I can get exact some proper revenge from the two of them.

"You know," I said to Neo, the woman in question looking over to me questioningly, "After all this is done we should take some time to sit down and learn sign language. Texting you is fun and all but it's a little tedious when we need to talk shop during plannings."

Neo took a moment to think about that, eventually nodding in agreement. Seems like better communication was something she wouldn't mind putting some effort into. Of course, I also wonder if my abilities would let me cheat a bit and eat a book about sign language. Being able to learn a new language just by absorbing a book sounds amazing, sadly I'll have to keep my expectations low for that. Language is probably considered a theory according to my Gamer abilities but I should have no trouble with it anyway thanks to my intelligence points.

Neo picked herself up from the ground and dusted her pants off, she turned to me and pointed back to Vale.

"You're heading back?" She nodded and I said, "Alright, I'll head back in a bit as well."

With a thumbs up and a wave goodbye, Neo jogged out of the forest, leaving me to my thoughts. I finished off the water I didn't really need and got back up, it was time for some Grimm hunting. It was time I started grinding skill levels on them once more, they might give me jack shit in my personal levels (10 exp now for a Beowolf and it keeps declining for every level I reach, for example) but they are living, to an extent, targets for my skills to be best practiced on. Leveling skills don't need a higher level monster to get experience, which is something I'm thankful for.

Personal levels are already hard to level without endless grinding, and I don't have the patience for endless grinding. If only those were as easy to get as a skill level, I'd be able to overpower Salem in no time at all and be able to live my life as a carefree crook.

 **[Your strength has risen by 2!]**

 **[Your vitality has risen by 1!]**

 **[Aura has gained a level!]**

 **[Aura Flow has gained a level!]**

 **[Dust Mastery has gained 3 levels!]**

* * *

 **(A/N) Sorry that this is a bit short, I've got midterms coming up and I need to put more focus on those than fanfiction. Hope you enjoyed it anyway, it sets off the beginning of the end of Price Baron and we can move on to the next big bad of the gang war.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 63 (Next Level: 8,755/194,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 4,074**

 **HP Regen: 81.48/min (2%)**

 **MP: 9,500.4 [5,278 + 263.9(5%) + 3,958.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 997.542/min [475.02(base 5%) + 475.02(100%) + (47.502(10%)]**

 **STR: 84 [Base 60 + 18(30%) + 6(10%)]**

 **VIT: 92.4 [Base 66 + 19.8(30%) + 6.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 317.75 [Base 155 + 23.25(15%) + 46.5(30%) + 15.5(10%) + 77.5(50%)]**

 **INT: 212.8 [Base 152 + 45.6(30%) + 15.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)**


	29. Chapter 29

**(A/N) Cover art by DownSmashJon**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 29**

"Alright, how about this one," I said to Neo, pacing back and forth in front of the planning table with a notepad in hand. We've had the past three days to kill before the police make their move on Price's Headquarters after going for his warehouse and we're done preparing on our end. Now, it's mostly some much-needed relaxation. Neo looked up attentively at me, chin resting on a fist as she watched me pace. I stopped in place and spread my arms wide, "A summer camp!"

Her only response was a single raised eyebrow, a scrunched up face, and a look of perplexion. What were we doing, you ask? Well, I am currently pitching ideas to Neo in the event we will ever need to lay low from the authorities, huntsmen, or anyone else going after us that we don't want to deal with. We need some sort of fallback plan to rely on. Just long enough to stay hidden and let things settle down.

I raised up a hand to stall any arguments, "Just hear me out. It's not just a camp that deals with things like survival, but something that caters to a wide variety of skills. Things like magic, theatre, arts and crafts, adventure, knitting."

Neo nodded slowly, giving it some thought as I explained.

"We host a huge number of camp activities to attract as many campers as possible. It will be like a camp camp!" I grinned as I showed Neo the plan for such a summer camp on my notepad, "Plus, with so many campers and activities we could launder all of our stolen money through the camp and nobody will notice! Plus, we can hide from anybody hunting us at the same time. I mean, who'd look for us at a summer camp of all places?"

Neo nodded her head, seemingly coming to a decision. She held up seven fingers.

I rubbed my chin, "Hmm, seven out of ten… that's a higher score than what you gave the other ideas I pitched." Ain't that the truth, all of my other ideas had reached a five at the most. Although it's amusing to me that she gave this idea a high score considering I shamelessly stole it from Roosterteeth and RWBY is also a show from the same company. Of course, I'm not bothered by the fact that I'm ripping ideas from someone else and claiming them as my own, I'm a criminal after all. Plus, who's going to know I did it in the first place?

I nodded, "Alright, I'll put this under 'Good Ideas', then." I set the notepad down and reached for a coffee mug, a blaring siren that nearly made me jump in fright almost had me spill it.

" **To all citizens, please be advised. A large cloud of poisonous gas has been released from the agricultural district, sector F. To any residents within sector F and all surrounding sectors please be cautious. If anyone is experiencing symptoms of poison please seek the nearest emergency center."**

The message from the siren repeated a few more times before it clicked off. Normally, the siren was used to warn the citizens that an incoming Grimm attack was imminent. Sadly, the jamming session that was still going on prevented the city from using its usual, less loud, method of warning its people for lesser threats, scroll alerts.

"Sector F," I muttered to myself as I retracted my hand from the mug. I glanced down at the map and roved my eyes over to the area in question, in it was a small area of land owned by Miss Nightshade. Where she stores all of her farmed goods, from legitimate foodstuffs grown out in the open fields to carefully hidden poisonous plants grown in greenhouses that are shipped and processed in her personal production lines. You'd be surprised at how in demand poison is since it can bypass aura if consumed.

One of her buildings in sector F must have contained the finished product and it was ruptured or destroyed somehow. If I recall correctly, she and Brutus were fighting down there over something, I wasn't sure what. I mean, the two of them were literally on different sides of the city, there shouldn't be any turf war between the two.

Well, I guess it didn't matter why they were fighting. What really matters is that they were drawing too much attention and causing too much tension. Using my **Negativity Sense** I can see the negativity over an area and get a feeling on how much there is if I'm standing near or around it. Just from that one announcement my skill automatically gave me an update on the negativity in the city. It had a pretty big spike.

Good thing though, the city's walls and Grimm defenses were enough to keep back the minor Grimm attack that was sure to follow. As someone who was not a huntsman and just a simple, law-abiding citizen, I did not have to worry about dealing with Grimm while in a city. But I do have to deal with the idiots that were attracting the Grimm in the first place. If it were up to me I'd backhand the stupid out of Brutus and Miss Nightshade for causing this.

I let out an annoyed sigh, "This city is heading towards chaos, Neo. Those two idiots sure like to make a mess of things."

Neo walked around the table and patted me on the shoulder, then she lifted her parasol and gave it a meaningful shake. I laughed, "Yeah, stabbing them might solve all of our problems."

I glanced down at my scroll, checking the clock.

"Well, it's about time, Neo. You ready for round two?" I asked my partner in crime. She smirked and licked her lips in anticipation, she wanted some real payback. "Then let's get going."

* * *

Our destination was a moderately tall building in the commercial district, not nearly as big as a skyscraper but then there aren't a whole lot of buildings in Vale that can be described as a skyscraper in the first place.

The plan to get rid of Price was relatively simple. The police already had the evidence they needed, the police raid last night went off without a hitch and Neo only had to intervene once. Price locked himself up in the building we were headed to, presumably to try and do damage control. His henchman Peter was to constantly stay by his side, not wanting to lose his best man. From a reliable source of mine, the police were going to try and arrest Price tonight. Neo and I were here to make sure that happens.

So, while the police were going to head in and become tangled with all of the fodder the two of us will deal with Price and hand him over on a silver platter. And when the police finally breach the door to his office, they will see him ready to go to jail.

The van one of my men was driving us in steadily made its way down the streets of the city, finally parking a block away from the building. Neo and I stepped out of the van, and I walked around to the driver side. I leaned towards my goon and said, "Your job is to stay here and wait." The goon nodded and Neo and I headed out.

We hopped onto a nearby roof, kicking off the wall of another building to do so. The great thing about downtown Vale has to be the proximity of buildings, one could roof hop their way across the city if they wanted to. The building Price was holed up in had a nice and easy access point on its roof if you had the balls to jump across buildings. Which, as two people on huntsman levels, we did.

I was the first to land on the roof of Price's building with a classic superhero landing, Neo followed soon after. The only difference between our landing strategies was the fact that she actually opened up her parasol and glided down like Mary Poppins into a smooth landing execution. I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Showoff."

Neo stuck her tongue out at me.

The two of us made our way to the rooftop's stairway entrance. I tried to open it but it was locked, but I wasn't deterred. I discreetly pulled out my skeleton key and stuck it into the keyhole, the door was soon unlocked. As we entered the building I could already hear the police sirens coming closer. It would only be a matter of time until the building was surrounded by police cars. We needed to hurry, I didn't want to have to fight the police. They are important for the city and my plans.

We walked down the stairs in silence, Neo keeping the two of us under an illusion the whole time we walked down the hallways and stairs. My job was to keep Neo's aura up and lead us in the right direction. Suddenly we heard voices and frantic running, we were forced to flatten ourselves against the wall as we watched a large group of Price's men run by with guns in hand. Seems like everyone just realized the police were about to raid their headquarters.

Once the coast was clear Neo and I peeled ourselves from the wall and continued on our way. It didn't take us too long to finally reach the entrance to Price's office, easily told by the fact that Peter himself was standing guard right outside the door. The two of us observed the man for a bit, I could tell that he must have known something was off. His hand kept twitching towards the giant weapon he had propped against the wall.

"Come out, I know you're there," Peter finally broke the silence. "I can feel your lust for blood."

Neo looked up at me and I stared at Peter for a moment before looking back down at her and nodded my consent. The illusion around us shattered into tiny fragments, Peter turning his head towards us the moment he heard the sound of shattering glass. He gripped the handle of his sword but didn't move more than that, instead he opened his mouth, "Leave, now. I will not ask again."

I frowned, activated **Power of Aura** , and readied my cane, "No thanks, we have a score to settle with you and your boss."

Neo and Peter readied their weapons as well, only Neo seemed eager for this.

I made the first move, dashing forward and sending a few shots from my cane. Most were sent just as a distraction, allowing me to use **Aura Flow** for a quick boost and a surprise hit. Peter's eyes widened in shock at my increased speed, taking a handful of hits from me in before he brought his sword back to bear. Not surprising that he'd be caught offguard, I didn't show any of this speed before.

Neo jumped in, hitting him in the side of the head with a well-placed kick. The giant sword of our enemy swung through Neo, causing her to shatter into a thousand pieces. Neo came back into reality, aiming for another kick to the face but shattered on contact with the sword he used for defence and Peter, as he was defending himself against the woman's attack, was surprised by the move. I attacked with my cane once again, keeping him focused on me until Neo came back into the real world and delivered a painful looking knee strike into Peter's crotch from behind.

I winced as the man cried out in pain but continued with my assault as Neo and I danced around him. After that attack on his manhood, Peter seemed to have had enough. His weapon split in two as he swung it in an arc towards us, a strange green barrier formed from the swing's arc and expanded out. The barrier struck us and we were sent back down the hall a bit. Neo flipped in the air and simply opened her parasol mid-flight and landed gently on her feet while I used my hands to spring myself into a controlled landing.

"Strange, it didn't have the electricity from last time. Perhaps that was from Dust?" I mused to myself and Neo. I watched as Peter pulled out a Burn Dust crystal, that I observed and noted it was an A-ranked, and slammed it into his weapon, the center of the blade immediately burst into flames. "Careful," I warned Neo, she nodded and narrowed her eyes at the man, "Go hidden, aim to disarm."

I pointed my cane and just started firing and slowly advancing, Neo disappeared from view. Peter wasn't wasting any time and sprinted through my cane's shots, he swung his sword down at me when he finally got close and I had to stop shooting lest I hit myself with my own attacks. I dodged out of the way and observed at Peter's weapon created a localized burst of fire.

"You sure you should be using fire indoors," I muttered to myself as I jabbed my cane towards his face. Peter blocked the first hit with his sword and kept a desperate defense up as I poured my Aura into **Aura Flow** and sent a barrage of hits with my cane.

 **[Blunt Weapons Mastery has risen by 1 level!]**

Peter finally got a chance to counter my assault. His sword found a way past my cane and while I managed to avoid the sword itself I was still struck by the flaming barrier that followed suit. For a moment I feared that I was going to face the same fate as Neo did last time. After all, his semblance managed to knock her out with one hit. I was spared that fate, the barrier exploded on contact with me and I was sent stumbling back dazed but unharmed for the most part.

His attack still shaved off a thousand MP from me, which is about a tenth of my total aura. It dealt good damage, but that begged the question of why it was obviously underpowered this time. After all, Neo has more aura than I do being a higher level and all.

Neo came back after I was hit and slammed her feet into Peter's face, hooking her parasol's handle around his sword's guard. I knew that she was doing as I asked and rushed forward to help her out, slamming my cane's handle on his hand and slamming my foot into his crotch at the same time. As a man I should be avoiding hitting someplace like that, but I wasn't worried about playing fair.

As a result of being hit once again in the balls, he unconsciously released his grip on his weapon. Neo and I flung the sword back and began laying on a constant offensive. I kept up my aura flow and constant power strikes, only taking a break every now and then to refill Neo's aura and my own aura. As for Neo, she was a whirlwind of kicks, acrobatics, and hidden blade jabs. Between the two of us and Peter's loss of a weapon, his aura was drained quickly and he slammed against the wall leaving a sizable crack.

He was bleeding from a gash on his lip and his face sported a few bruises thanks to the final part of our combined attacks. Peter groaned in discomfort as Neo slowly made her way over to his beaten form, the hidden blade in her parasol unsheathing and grinding across the floor of the building. Meanwhile, I took Peter's sword from the ground and shoved it into my inventory while Neo did her thing.

"Gah!" I heard a scream of pain and looked over to see Neo sticking her blade through one of Peter's kneecaps. I rose an eyebrow at the brutal display but didn't say anything as Neo stabbed and stabbed at the man. It seems that she really didn't take being knocked out so easily all that well. While seeing a man in such pain didn't bother me all that much, something that is not what I ever pictured happening, we did need to get a move on. I could hear the shots from the mini-battle going on outside start to lessen.

"Neo, hurry up, we don't have much time," I said. She gave me an 'ok' sign without turning around to face me and leaned down to lift Peter's face to hers. From my position, I could see the sadistic smirk on her face as she dragged her blade across his throat. She held his head for a few moments until he finally died and she let his body fall limply to the floor.

"Glad you're on my side," I said to her as she skipped over to me. She grinned up at me as we made our way to the door that held Price.

 **[You have killed the huntsman Peter Moneybanks!]**

 **[You have gained 38,000 EXP!]**

The inside of the office was well furnished, as one might expect of a wealthy businessman. The chair behind Price's desk was turned away from the door, facing the window. I knew Price was actually there, I could see his reflection in the window, so I knew there wasn't any escape. Neo and I casually walked through the room, I idly eyed the picture frames standing on a set of drawers on the side of the room. Most were pictures of Price in various parts of his life, but one of the pictures caught my eye.

I stopped at the drawers and picked the photo up and when I got a good look at what, or who was in the picture I nearly dropped it out of shock. The picture was of a younger Walter and an even younger, nearly child, Price standing side by side in a one-armed hug.

"Surprised?" Price asked, turning around in his chair to face us, propping his elbows on the desk. "My grandfather was a large part of my life when I was younger even when I wasn't a large part of his."

I looked over at Price in bewilderment, "Grandfather? If you were Walter's grandson, then why would you of all people need to fight over all of his things? Surely, you would have inherited everything."

Price's face tightened in anger as he balled his hands into fists and I realised I just hit a sore spot, "Because he never planned to give me anything! I worked for years to get to where I am today, to get that old bastard to finally recognize my achievements. But what does he decide to do with all the wealth he accumulated over the years? Give everything away to charities and the huntsman academies!"

Price slammed a fist onto his desk, "Not one Lien went to me! His only family! That's why I sold information to Brutus so that the old bastard would finally croak!"

"You sold out your own grandfather?!" I snarled when what I just heard registered in my brain. Betraying strangers or acquaintances is one thing, but betraying your own family, friends, or loved ones is something else. And for something so easily obtained like Lien. The man in front of me is responsible for everything going on right now, and that is pissing me off.

Price reeled back in honest surprise, "You didn't know? I'm surprised at you Torchwick, it's not a very closely guarded secret in the underworld. Then again, this is just par for the course for you really, I've always hated you."

I know I haven't been keeping up with the rumor mill amongst the criminals like I should have, but I've been busy. Nevertheless, I narrowed my eyes and stepped up to his desk, our eyes never leaving each other as I tried to keep my temper in check, "And what do you mean by that? As far as I'm aware we've only ever interacted twice, I know I'm a charismatic man but there has to be a limit."

Price sneered, "You're loud and flamboyant as a criminal, Torchwick. I know your type, you're just doing this for the thrills, nothing else matters as long as you cause mayhem wherever you go and have fun doing it."

He's right… sort of, but he doesn't know any better. I really am doing the whole criminal thing for the thrills, but I'm also doing it because Vale needs Roman Torchwick in the future. I'm not about to jeopardize the future completely just because I want to play hero in some fantasy. No, I play the role assigned to me and when everything is said and done, and I'm still alive, I'll continue to do what I've always been doing and let teams RWBY and JNPR do their thing against Salem and be the heroes.

"That's rich coming from the man who sold out his own grandfather and helped start the giant shitstorm going on right now," I retorted. "Hard to compare my mayhem with what's going on out there."

Price just shrugged, not seeming to care, "The chaos outside is only temporary, every start of a new era begins with a little anarchy. In a few years time after this change in management, I expect things to have returned to normal."

"You're right about that, it's just not going to be you leading it," I said, nodding to Neo. She grinned and merrily skipped over to Price, he scrambled back with a gun in his hands and wildly fired at her. I already knew he wasn't a fighter, being level fifteen and all, so I wasn't worried as Neo just casually weaved around the shots fired. She backhanded Price in the face and his gun went flying out of his hands.

I picked up a letter opener from the desk and unsheathed it, eyeing the blade carefully. Not even looking up I pointed to Price's hand and Neo happily grabbed his wrist and slammed his hand down onto the desk.

Price's eyes widened when he realized just what I was about to do to him, "No, wait! Don't, I'll pay you whatever you want! Please!"

"You want Lien so badly? I'll give you some Lien, hope all of this was worth it Price," I darkly growled.

It's funny, Price got so worked up over making money and not getting any money from his grandfather, but would happily offer me anything to not feel what I'm about to do to him. I ignored his constant pleading and pulled out twenty Lien, setting it down onto his hand. I gave a few seconds to let him soak in his fear before taking the letter opener and slamming the blade down as hard as I could onto his hand. The blade went cleanly through the money, hand, and even into the desk, pinning the man down.

Price screamed in pain and I watched his health dip down sharply. Flesh in this world is very weak, compared to aura it takes more damage. I'm the only person in the world that doesn't have to worry about it as much as everyone else does. Neo let go of his wrist and the two of us watched as Price screamed and grabbed onto his hand in desperation. He won't die from this, but he will be in agony until the police arrive and that's all that matters.

I glanced over at the safe near the back corner of the room and quickly headed towards it. I didn't have much time left so I just yanked out my skeleton key and eyed the safe. It was a combination lock so I didn't know if the key would even work but I held it against the lock anyway. The key softly glowed for a brief second and I heard a click and the safe swung open. Inside was a lot of incriminating evidence, trying to get to that would've taken the police a long time if they haf to crack open the safe so I decided to give them a short cut and just left it open.

Other than the evidence there was some Lien, which I put into my inventory, and several large Dust crystals. All of them were S-grade, which made me think that maybe Peter had used an S-grade lightning Dust crystal during our first encounter. I took those as well, might come in handy in the future. With all that done I stood back up and headed back out, still ignoring Price's now quieting but no less pitiful and whimpering screams.

"We're done here, Neo, let's go. I heard the gunfire stop a little ago," I said as we walked out of the office, Neo covering us with her semblance once again. Just in time too, we quickly pressed ourselves against the wall and watched as police officers swarmed through the hallway towards Price's office.

 **[Quest Completed!]**

* * *

 **(A/N) And that's a wrap for the first part of the gang war.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 63 (Next Level: 46,755/194,000)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 4,074**

 **HP Regen: 81.48/min (2%)**

 **MP: 9,500.4 [5,278 + 263.9(5%) + 3,958.5(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 997.542/min [475.02(base 5%) + 475.02(100%) + (47.502(10%)]**

 **STR: 84 [Base 60 + 18(30%) + 6(10%)]**

 **VIT: 92.4 [Base 66 + 19.8(30%) + 6.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 317.75 [Base 155 + 23.25(15%) + 46.5(30%) + 15.5(10%) + 77.5(50%)]**

 **INT: 212.8 [Base 152 + 45.6(30%) + 15.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 10**

 **Lien: 3,126,417**


	30. Chapter 30

**(A/N) Hi, this chapter will be rather short and while I have reasons I still feel that I have to apologize for it. Reasons for a short chapter this month are college finals and a big essay for one of my classes. Those are taking most of my brain juice right now but how about we just go ahead and say this is a transitionary chapter, eh? Because it kind of is.**

 **Cover art by DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 30**

I didn't see Jeanette in the storming of Price's office, but she was likely somewhere else if she was part of this little police raid. Neo and I stayed silent and immobile, waiting for the chance to make our escape. I listened closely to what was going on in the office, vaguely I could hear the policemen moving around and the muffled cries of Price. Neo and I's chance arrived sooner than expected and when a lull in the movements of the police came we quickly dashed down the halls as silent as we could.

We reached the staircase to the top of the building in record time, I quickly pressed myself against the wall and peeked around the corner to see if there was anybody on the stairs. A few moments of silence later and I looked over at Neo and jerked my head in the direction of the stairs. She nodded back and ran up the stairs with me not far behind. When the door to the roof came into view we came to a halt, I carefully and slowly pushed the door open and peered out the crack.

Nobody was on the roof, which is a lucky break as I didn't want any potential risks of being discovered. Neo and I quickly ran out of the door to the edge of the building we arrived at, not even stopping as we leaped across and landed on the roof of the neighboring building. I waved at Neo to get her attention and pointed to where our exit vehicle was parked, she nodded and we finally were home free.

Neo dropped her semblance and leaned against the van, tired from the constant use of her semblance. I patted her on the shoulder and gave her a smile, she did good work, "Good work, Neo. Ready to head back and get some rest?"

Neo gave me a thumbs up and entered the van, I followed right behind her and told my henchman to take us back to the warehouse. After dealing with Price I could use a bit of rest myself, lay low for a bit and let things in the city die down after something as big as this blows over. Plus after having a competitor taken out I imagine Brutus and Miss Nightshade are going to be a bit wary and silent. For now, I should just be thankful I finally finished my current quest.

 **Quest Successful!**

 **The Baron and the Thief**

 **Rewards: 2,000,000EXP, 1,500,000 Lien, "Crime Lord" title, storyline progression, increased influence within the criminal underworld, skill book "Grant Magic".**

 **[You have gained 9 levels!]**

I undoubtedly needed to look at my new title and skill book I acquired, but not right now. When I get my free time is when I'll go over it and see about allocating my skill points.

The ride back to the warehouse was dull and mostly silent save for the light music coming from the radio. If I heard the radio host correctly I think the band playing the song was the Achieve Men and I softly smirked at the thought of actually listening to them. They were on one of Yang's posters in team RWBY's room if I remember correctly.

The van pulled into the area where my warehouse was and we were on guard immediately. I always had men on watch outside and they always challenged anyone who approached, as I had ordered. Unless my men were feeling suicidal and masochistic enough to defy my explicit orders then I doubt the guards were away from their posts willingly.

The van came to a screeching stop and was turned off as Neo, the henchman who drove us, and I stepped out and cautiously looked around. We took out our weapons and continued to scan the surroundings before even attempting to move. Unsurprisingly, however, we didn't spy a soul in sight.

"Move quickly to the warehouse," I ordered. "Quietly."

Neo and my henchman nodded and we quickly moved to the front of my warehouse, stopping against the wall. Neo stood between me and the door and my henchman was on the other side. I nodded to my goon and he slowly reached for the handle, turning the knob slowly and pushing the door open. Nothing seemed to happen at first and the goon peered through the doorway, he looked back at me and shook his head. Nothing.

"Alright, move inside, quietly, on three," I whispered to my little group. "One, two, three!"

My henchman was the first through, followed by Neo, and finally me. The first thing we did once inside was find cover, all three of us behind some solid object. Still nothing. I slowly shifted around my cover, a large metal drum, scanning the top of my warehouse as people often to forget to look up. I stopped when I stepped on something and felt it shift.

Instantly I moved away and pointed my cane at it, Neo and my goon noticing my movement and were on guard. When I got a good look at what I stepped on I realized it was a hand, I lowered my cane and peered around the drum to see who it was attached to. I frowned when I saw that it was one of my men, but I was thankful that **Observe** told me that he was alive and well, just unconscious.

But it made me think that if one of my men was unconscious on the ground then maybe the rest of my men were in the same boat. I looked over at the other two and whispered, "One of ours, unconscious. Go look for the others, try and get them awake."

They went to work quickly, and I scanned my unconscious goon's body to look for any clues. The most obvious ailment that the status screen observe gave me was the fact that he was poisoned. I scowled and pressed a finger on the poisoned status effect.

 **Soul's Shade Poison - Special**

 **A terrible poison that locks away a person's Aura until it has run its course. The poison initially knocks the person unconsciousness and leaves them vulnerable although they may wake up later. While not deadly on its own its potential is unrivaled. Only one person knows how to make this poison and nobody understands its ingredients.**

" _If it's poison then I should be able to cure it, right?"_ I grabbed a Dust crystal from my inventory and held it over my goon's body, silently activating **Aura Mend**. With a small flash of light, the Dust was consumed.

 **[You are unable to cure status effect Poison! Skill can only cure low-status effects!]**

Well, that makes things annoying but not necessarily bad. It seems that I'll have to just wait for my men to wake up on their own. I stood back up and looked for Neo after looking around my warehouse to see if anything was taken, oddly enough there wasn't anything taken. I spotted my small friend next to our little planning area, knelt next to Jerry as she tried to shake him awake.

"Don't bother, Neo," I spoke up as I made my way over. "I don't think that everyone will be waking up anytime soon."

Neo nodded her head, grimacing as she picked herself back up. She pointed at Jerry and motioned to the rest of the warehouse.

"Yeah, it looks like everyone has been affected, we're likely the only ones not unconscious," I said. I didn't actually look to see if anyone's awake, but I highly doubted that was the case. This whole thing reeks of super professionalism, though the reason to keeping everyone alive boggled my mind. If this person was looking to rid themselves of a potential rival then they would've killed all of my men, not knock them out for whatever reason. Considering these trying times that would have crippled me and my cause.

A sudden ringing caught us off guard, Neo and I looked at the map table and saw a scroll that we've never seen before buzzing and ringing on top. We looked at each other for a moment, confused. The scroll looked brand new and untouched, clearly not Jerry's as his was an older model that had taken a few bangs. We tore our gaze from each other and I carefully picked up the scroll and answered it.

"Hello?" I spoke into the scroll. It wasn't the most elegant of things to say when answering a mysterious phone call but it got the job done well enough.

A soft feminine giggle came out of the scroll's speakers, " _Hello, Roman. How are you?"_

"Doing good, and you?" I looked over at Neo and shrugged my shoulders, I didn't recognize the voice. Neo glanced warily around as if trying to spot an unseen enemy but kept an eye on the call as I spoke to whoever this was.

" _Oh, I'm doing_ well _, thank you for asking,"_ the voice tittered.

"So," I began, "who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

" _You don't recognize my voice, Roman? Oh, you shouldn't hurt a lady's heart like that,"_ the voice on the other end of the scroll tutted like I did something naughty.

"Apologies, I've been very busy recently," I said, trying to place the voice. Nothing came to mind, as hard as I tried to recall where her voice came from.

The voice sighed, " _Oh, I know you've been busy. So_ very _busy. I've kept my eyes on you ever since I first saw you. Oh, it was love at first sight!"_

And now I was officially creeped out, wonderful. I didn't voice that opinion out loud, I'd rather try and figure out what was going on. "Riiiight, so was it you who knocked out my men? Gotta say that's not very nice."

" _Oh, yes, that was me. They were so adamant about not letting me do what I needed to do, but I needed you to be in the correct position you see,"_ the woman said, giggling. " _I have so much planned for us!"_

And in that instant, I heard popping and hissing. A huge cloud of white gas came out from under the map table and several other parts of my warehouse. My eyes widened in surprise and I moved my arm over my nose, coughing violently and staggering backward as my eyes watered.

 **[You have been poisoned (Soul's Shade Poison - Special)!]**

 **[Your Poison Resistance is too low to negate this poison!]**

"Fuck," I swore as I tried to breathe in as little as possible. I looked over at my partner and saw that Neo was coughing badly, she was able to stagger a little towards me before collapsing to the ground. "Neo!" I called out, trying to quickly reach her.

I didn't make it far before collapsing myself and falling into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **(A/N) And that's a wrap. Once again, sorry for the shortness. I should have more free time by the end of May.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 72 (Next Level: 63,155/254,600)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 4,524**

 **HP Regen: 81.48/min (2%)**

 **MP: 10,310.4 [5,728 + 286.4(5%) + 4,296(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 1,082.6/min [515.52(base 5%) + 515.52(100%) + (51.552(10%)]**

 **STR: 84 [Base 60 + 18(30%) + 6(10%)]**

 **VIT: 92.4 [Base 66 + 19.8(30%) + 6.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 317.75 [Base 155 + 23.25(15%) + 46.5(30%) + 15.5(10%) + 77.5(50%)]**

 **INT: 212.8 [Base 152 + 45.6(30%) + 15.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 55**

 **Lien: 4,626,415**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off), Poisoned(Soul's Shade Poison - Special), Unconscious**


	31. Chapter 31

**(A/N) I would just like to say that sleeping is not necessarily a mental attack. Mental attacks are kept to a very strict standard for me, things like hallucinations, psychosis, mind control, etc. There is also the fact that his sleep was induced by a physical means (poison), and not through a mental attack. Gamer's body also does not give him immunity to everything, he is still affected by things. His body will always _look fine_ _physically_ unless he has a dismembered status effect.**

 **Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Cover art by DownSmashJon.**

 **Playing Our Roles**

 **Chapter 31**

My eyes shot open and I gasped out, "Neo!"

 **[You slept the minimum time to gain sleep benefits (30 minutes)! HP and MP recovered by 1%, all negative status effects cured!]**

 **[Poison resistance has risen by 15 levels!]**

 **[Your poison resistance is too low to resist the effects of Soul's Shade poison!]**

For a moment I was confused as I was flooded by the messages coming from my ability and the shock of waking up so suddenly, then I felt a piercing pain in my shoulder, not even a few seconds from waking up. I looked and saw a needle sticking into my arm, its contents already emptied into my body. I only had a few moments of clarity left, only aware of the subtle bumps of a vehicle driving down a slightly uneven road, a head resting on my other shoulder, and the fact that I didn't get the chance to reactivate my aura and block the needle from going into my arm.

"Oh, my dear, I'm honestly surprised you already woke up!" The soft feminine voice coming from the person resting on my shoulder spoke up, a hand gently rubbing circles on my, thankfully, still clothed chest. "Most people take a day to wake up from my poison, even hunters are out for a few hours! But you woke up in only thirty minutes! Oh, I _knew_ you were special my dear!"

My sight was already darkening again and I grimaced as I thought about the situation I was stuck in. A super stalker that I had no idea even existed until now had me in her extremely creepy grasp with a super broken poison. Is my luck stat still not high enough to keep myself out of these situations? The darkness grew and I was losing control over my bodily functions, the giggling of my kidnapper echoing in my ears.

Sweet dreams…

* * *

During my captivity, before I was able to resist the unconsciousness effect of the poison, I always woke up thirty minutes on the dot with the poison gone from my system, a fact that Miss Nightshade, my kidnapper and apparent would-be love interest, had noticed straight away. As sadistic and deranged as she might be, and I think she has a few problems, she was clearly not stupid. The first couple of times I ended up awake she was very insistent on trying to figure out why I could remove the poison from my body without waking up and wake up exactly thirty minutes after falling unconscious.

The second time I woke up was when I realized that I was going to be in her care for a while. I found myself chained to a heavy dust-infused steel chair inside of a dark room, I wasn't able to break them as I didn't have the necessary strength. Perhaps I should invest some time lifting weights. I was once again flooded by messages coming from my ability, sleep removing my poison and my poison resistance leveling up and being unable to counter the poison. I barely processed them as my eyes were beginning to dim again.

I was confused at first, I didn't feel a stab in my arm or any body part. I caught sight of some movement out of the corner of my eyes as I was trying to weakly break the chains restricting my arms. An IV drip was on both of my arms, the bags seemed to be somewhere behind me, sending a blackish-purple liquid into me. While my consciousness was slipping and I still could not use my aura, I tried, it wasn't hard to deduce that that was the poison that could be easily said to have caused me the most trouble in this world in the short time it's been in my life.

My head lolled forward and I fell unconscious once again to the sound of a feminine voice slowly becoming more and more inaudible.

I wasn't sure how long I was actually in this dark room, waking up every thirty minutes sounds like a good way to keep time but it all tends to blend together when you are constantly waking up and falling unconscious. But with some very vague idea, I'd guess that I was maybe in Miss Nightshade's care for a day and a half, perhaps a little more.

My poison resistance had skyrocketed upwards in levels, not surprising considering that I was effectively being subjected to some super poison twenty-four seven. As I was falling in and out of being awake I noticed that I was staying awake a little bit longer each time as my poison resistance leveled up. I was able to stay awake long enough to check my skill screen once, the skill that I only got after drinking alcohol and never bothered to level (I was regretting that now) had started halfway to level two and ended up at level forty-two when I managed to check it.

That would have been a more amazing achievement if I wasn't being held against my will.

Then, when I awoke for the final time, still plugged into the IVs, I was greeted with the single greatest thing I had ever read after ignoring the other messages.

 **[Your Poison Resistance has increased to level 65!]**

 **[Your Poison Resistance has partially negated the effects of Soul's Shade!]**

I was a little disappointed at the fact that I still couldn't use my aura or any of my aura-consuming skills, but not being constantly subjected to being forced unconscious was a significant deal so I withheld my complaining for the moment.

Now that I could actually be aware of what was going on around me I swept my gaze across the room I was in. It was dimly lit in a purposeful and sensual way, the floor was a carpet in a sinful red with black patterns dancing chaotically. Various bedroom furniture was placed against the walls, the wardrobe and vanity were the largest pieces with the dark-purple satin bed coming in a close third place. There was a small table directly in front of me with a plush chair seated across, a bottle of unopened wine in the middle and two glasses next to it.

"This lady is certainly going for that mysterious and sensuously deadly image," I muttered to myself.

A finger traced under my jaw and I shivered as a pair of lips brushed against my ear and whispered, "I certainly _am_. Hello, my dear Roman. Are you… _comfortable_?"

I resisted the urge to try and turn my head around to bite her face. I doubt I'd be able to do it without breaking my neck and I didn't want to piss off the woman who had me literally in chains. Instead, I gritted my teeth and said, "Well, I wouldn't say I'm comfortable. Not a fan of bondage, you see." I punctuated by rattling the chains keeping me firmly against the unyielding chair.

"Oh, but I am," Miss Nightshade purred. "I love seeing the people I'm interested in being held so _helplessly_ , it makes me so happy for reasons you couldn't possibly imagine in your wildest dreams."

" _I seriously doubt that I'd want to, lady,"_ I thought to myself as the lips bit my ear and finally pulled away.

My gracious host stepped into my line of sight for once and I was able to finally put a face to the voice. Miss Nightshade was indeed a beautiful woman, dressed in a fancy black dress and heels and a few pieces of amethyst jewelry on her body. Her hair was long, down to the middle of her back, and was a dark purple that almost looked black. When I finally took in her appearance and gave it a second to settle in my brain I realized that I recognized her and understood why she mentioned me not recognizing her voice.

In the beginning, when Walter was still alive and I was visiting his little fighting ring I came across this woman and we ended up talking with each other in between fights. It wasn't for long as I ended up needing to stop going over to Walter's in order to start working on my gang full time and get Neo. I didn't consider us as friends, but we were friendly with each other. If it wasn't clear I also had no idea that I was just casually talking with one of the top crime bosses in Vale. She never introduced herself as Miss Nightshade she introduced herself as...

 **The Deadly Nightshade**

 **Carise Anara - Lv121**

I knew back then that she was somebody strong, but I was also super low level so I didn't know just how strong she really was, just that her level was a bunch of question marks. And now I realized just how much of a difference in power we had at the time, I'm glad that I never managed to do some terrible faux pas and piss her off enough to end my life. Though, being held captive against my will isn't much better.

Of course with a title and level like that maybe I should have connected the dots about her possibly being Miss Nightshade a little sooner and not when my life may be on the line. The clues were all there but I suppose I just wasn't looking at them hard enough. Hindsight really is twenty-twenty.

"So," I started. "Why did you want me here? I can't imagine that I've done something to displease you." Well, from the vibes and hints I'm getting off of her, I kind of already know what she wants. But, I'd rather she just come out and say it.

"So," she started. "Straight to the point. No pleasantries, no… _foreplay_? How typical of you men." She giggled as her own joke and I had to catch myself from rolling my eyes, that was too easy. She stopped her giggling and sighed, and I feel that the tone had shifted in another direction.

"I suppose it would be best for the two of us to get to the point. The Gods know I shouldn't be so flippant with so much riding on the line," Carise continued as she crossed her legs and reached for the bottle of wine, uncorking the bottle and setting it back down to breathe. I admit that I'm a little curious as to what she wants from me, from her little phone call and that brief bit in the car I half expected her to jump my bones the second I stopped falling unconscious.

"And what exactly is riding on the line?" I asked. "And what's with the sudden attitude shift, I was half expecting you to be a crazy lovesick woman with the way you were talking on the phone and in the car on the way here."

She leaned back in her plush chair and smiled ruefully, "I'm afraid that was a bit of an act. I have reason to believe that my calls may be monitored by the people that hired me and I needed to sell the act, it's why I didn't break character this whole time. I had already to sold my... employer, the idea that I was love sick for you. I planned this little exchange not long after some of my lookouts told me you arrived back in Vale snd began to mess with Price."

"I see… and my other question?"

Carise looked down solemnly, "I'm afraid that I may have made the wrong kind of deal with the wrong kind of people." She crossed her hands in her lap, "A few weeks before this whole war between Brutus, Price, and I, I was contacted by a man claiming that he would pay me handsomely if I designed a poison for him from some specific materials. As a poison expert, I'm unrivaled in the criminal underworld."

I already had a bad feeling. Call it a gamer's intuition.

"Of course, he paid a large amount of the deal upfront, as a show of trust and promise for future business. I agreed, after all, business was business and why should I care if he wanted to use some specific ingredient in this poison he wanted so badly?" Carise shuddered at some memory I wasn't privy to.

"And I guess that this ingredient was something bad?"

She laughed humorlessly, "Bad? No, nonono, it was so much worse than _bad_. It's downright _evil_. I am a criminal, Roman, but even I have some standards in my line of work that I don't want to cross." Carise sneered down at the table, "That man went to this van that he used to drive here and brought out a plant covered in cloth. Or at least that's what I thought it was at first when he uncovered it I nearly destroyed it on the spot. I wish I had."

I bit my lip, "I think I have some guess to what it is."

"If you guessed that it was a Grimm plant that shat out these white seeds that you can extract poison ingredients out of then maybe you're crazier than you think because I certainly did not expect something like that!" She almost shouted. Carise snatched the bottle from the table and poured a glass from it before taking a deep drought, I was certain that not enough time had gone by for it to have breathed properly but I don't think she cares for taste right now. She slammed the glass down hard enough to crack the side, "I despise the Grimm, and who wouldn't when they have plagued humanity and Faunus for as long as we remember? They've killed people close to me, I don't want anything to do with them!"

"Then why didn't you refuse him, give him back his money?" I wasn't expecting such a hostile tone about the Grimm from Carise, but then again most people in this world have a reason to hate them.

She snorted, "You don't think I tried that? I refused as soon as I saw the fucking thing, nearly attacked the bastard myself when he snidely remarked that I already offered my services to fulfill his request." She grew silent, "But it wasn't _him_ that forced me into this."

" _Oh no,"_ I thought. " _Please don't go where I think you're going."_

"As soon as our argument got heated… _something_ came out of the back. It had this long cloth over its crystal ball like body as it floated over to us. My… _customer_ grew silent as soon as it appeared, as if he respected the damn thing, or at least the woman that spoke out of it." She swallowed and stared at the table in a brief bit of haunted silence, "In all my years, Roman, in all of my years I thought that the Grimm was just a collective bunch of mindless brutes senselessly killing the people of this world. I didn't even consider that there was some higher being controlling them all from the shadows, plotting our deaths."

Well, this is the reaction I'd expect from a normal person finding out about Salem. A sense of dread and resignation to the fact that there was a powerful being out there that just wanted to kill them all and has been doing so for who knows how long. I didn't blame Carise for these feelings. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that I already knew this from watching the show and the fact that I have a skill that calms me down in stressful situations, I might just have reacted the same way as her.

But, I needed to act like how a normal person would act.

My eyes widened and I leaned forward as much as I was able to, "What?! That can't be right if they had someone like that all this time then how have they not conquered the world yet?"

She shook her head like she was expecting something like my reaction.

 **[Lie has gained a level!]**

"It's the truth, I watched her spawn a Grimm right in front of me and kill it just as effortlessly."

I leaned back in my chair in a slump, "Then what does this have to do with me? I take it you've already managed to make a poison out of this… Grimm?"

She nodded and reached for the other glass and poured another drink, "I have. In fact, your base was where I tested the poison out for a live performance. It worked just as it was supposed to."

I stopped and considered that for a bit, "Then does that mean this guy already has the poison and how to make it?"

"That was the only batch I made and I haven't told him about the test yet, been too busy with my new toy you see?" She gave a tiny smirk at me, clearly trying to get me flustered. Too bad for her I was made of sterner stuff. She tapped her head, "The recipe is up here, and that's where it will stay."

"Then why bring me here, if you don't have anymore and you refuse to make more then just run away and hide until everything blows over," I suggested. She didn't seem like an evil mastermind here, just someone that accidentally got in over her head. "I'm sure Brutus would happily destroy this place and those things if you give him a chance."

She shook her head, "I've been trying to get him to attack me here, I even let one of my storage facilities be destroyed in an attempt to get him confident enough to strike. He hasn't even moved in an attempt to attack, some of my people have discovered that he may be speaking with a man that looks similar to the man that hired me. If he is working with them then I fear it might already be too late for me."

I think I was starting to get a good idea to what she was planning.

"You… want Neo and my gang to attack you here. Destroy the greenhouse and the Grimm plant in it?" I stated, confident in my deduction.

Carise nodded her head and took a small sip of wine, " _Plants_. And when that happens, and when that second in command of yours burns this place to the ground after fighting the token resistance I have placed here she will come for you and me. It has to be done like this, it needs to look like a third party just decided to wipe out a competitor while they were weak and recently offended them. Tragic, but what can you do?" She sarcastically shrugged.

I stayed silent as I stared into Carise's eyes. The silence was broken when I said, "You don't need to die, you know."

"I do, everything is already in motion and I refuse to spend the rest of my life on the run, looking behind my back for some hidden danger that may or may not be there. I hold no hope that they will just let me live after I give them this poison, and if I am going to die one way or another then I will do my damnedest to make sure I screw over the people that put me in this position, to begin with!" She smacked the table with a hand, a determined flame smoldering in her red eyes that made them almost seem like they would set me on fire from their gaze alone.

Carise paused for a moment and took a calming breath, "They want this poison badly, Roman, don't make the mistake of taking their goals lightly. Not long from now your little girlfriend will be here to take revenge and I will let her kill me." She gave me a sad smile, "I won't just roll over and die, I'm not going to make this easy for her. If she really wants you back then she will have to work for it."

I silently accepted her resolve to do this her own way but I had to know one thing before things continued, "What made you choose me, or rather, us? And why?"

Carise smiled, "When we first met back at Walter's, you had no idea who I was and so I was able to watch you a little more closely and understand you." She paused to look into her glass and swirl it around, "Every time you do something significant, or suddenly do something right or better, you always look like you're looking at something that isn't there."

My eyes widened a fraction of an inch, she noticed? Did anyone else notice?

"It certainly would explain why you grew so impressively during your time there. Most people take a long time to master the things you've done, years even. I'm not sure how you do it, and I don't even need to know. But in that time I knew you were going to be someone impressive, someone, formidable in your own way." She laughed, "And when you came back to Vale and started tearing apart that prick's little slice of heaven in righteous fury I decided to take a gamble. To be honest I never thought I'd be explaining this to you, but your ability to resist the poison's effects is astounding so I made sure to be around when you had awoken. Maybe you'll be the one to stop this whole farce of a gang war and bring some damn order amongst the criminals, maybe you won't be."

She shrugged, "But I guess none of that matters in the end for me, I'll be dead."

An explosion rocked the building.

* * *

 **(A/N) Yeah, it was mostly a talk between two people but we do need a plot. Expect things to get a little more actiony next chapter.**

 **Name: Roman Torchwick**

 **Age: 25**

 **Class: The Gamer**

 **Level: 72 (Next Level: 63,155/254,600)**

 **Title: Kingpin/Partners in Crime**

 **Bounty: 60,000 Lien**

 **HP: 4,524**

 **HP Regen: 81.48/min (2%)**

 **MP: 10,310.4 [5,728 + 286.4(5%) + 4,296(75%)]**

 **MP Regen: 1,082.6/min [515.52(base 5%) + 515.52(100%) + (51.552(10%)]**

 **STR: 84 [Base 60 + 18(30%) + 6(10%)]**

 **VIT: 92.4 [Base 66 + 19.8(30%) + 6.6(10%)]**

 **DEX: 317.75 [Base 155 + 23.25(15%) + 46.5(30%) + 15.5(10%) + 77.5(50%)]**

 **INT: 212.8 [Base 152 + 45.6(30%) + 15.2(10%)]**

 **WIS: 56 [Base 40 + 12(30%) + 4(10%)]**

 **LUK: 53**

 **Elemental Affinity: Earth (20), Wind (20), Fire (20), Ice (20), Lightning (20)**

 **Attribute Points: 55**

 **Lien: 4,626,415**

 **Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off), Poisoned (Soul's Shade - Special) [Reduced]**


End file.
